Mesoderm: The Possible Key to the Organic Basis of Freud’s Theories

Abstract

The main body of the paper leads to the insight that there might be a correlational and/or developmental relationship between systems, layers, structures, levels of consciousness and Freud’s model of the mind. It rests on three premises or postulates: 1) mesoderm might provide the key to the organic basis of Freud’s topographical and structural models, both of which involve primary and secondary systems; 2) mesoderm is not a limiting skin, but a layer that simultaneously creates space and connects: 3) as it gives rise to the major structural components and organs of the inner body including the notochord (made of three-dimensional meso tissue) which underlies and promotes the development of the CNS made of neuroectoderm, mesoderm also involves primary and secondary aspects. In this paper, the possible links between these aspects are explored. As the activities, contents, and history related to the meso layer predate temporal reasoning associated with the prefrontal cortex, our contact with this deeper layer is either direct through feeling and sensation, which predate verbal thought, or indirect using free association and dreams. This perspective also throws light on Freud’s agents of the psyche or soul, where the ego is the chief protagonist and whose actions and decisions are affected by unconscious processes. Resistance to accessing this inner “unconscious” layer is probably related to an early tendency in controlling the expression of emotional and instinctual behaviour.