Volume 37 · Number 4
APRIL 2007

The Neurobiology of the Unconscious

By George I. Viamontes, MD, PhD; Bernard D. Beitman, MD

The theory that the human mind contains both conscious and unconscious components has been a cornerstone of psychiatric thought for the past century. The main idea behind this important hypothesis is that information processing in the brain occurs simultaneously at two main levels: one conscious, or fully accessible to cognitive processes, and one unconscious, or hidden from cognition. In addition, both conscious and unconscious processes are able to influence behavior.

ABOUT THE GUEST EDITORS

George I. Viamontes, MD, PhD, is Regional Medical Director, United Behavioral Health Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, and assistant clinical professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Viamontes was born in Cuba and came to the United States at age 11. He has a BS in Biology from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in Biology from Washington University, St. Louis. After he received his doctorate, he completed a fellowship in Immunogenetics at the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York. Dr. Viamontes led a research group in Immunobiology at Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. for 4 years. He later obtained his MD from St. Louis University, where he also completed his residency in psychiatry. Dr. Viamontes is about to publish an illustrated book on the neurobiology of the self, and some of the graphics in this journal are previews of that work.

Bernard D. Beitman, MD, is professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri – Columbia. He is the author of the award winning Learning Psychotherapy, now in its second edition, The Structure of Individual, and Integrating Psychotherapy and Pharmacotherapy, and is co-editor of Self-Awareness Deficits in Psychiatric Patients.