HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopathology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1630858
This article is part of the Research TopicNeurobiological mechanisms and psychological processes involved in the origin and development of trauma and depressionView all articles
Active Inference and Psychodynamics: A Novel Integration with Applications to Depression and Stress Disorders
Provisionally accepted
- private practice, Arlington, United States
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This paper introduces Active Intersubjective Inference (AISI), a novel framework that integrates psychodynamic theory with predictive processing to explain self-identity construction and psychopathology. AISI posits that the self emerges from recursive inferences about how others perceive us (second-order self), interacting bidirectionally with interoceptive processes. We map psychodynamic phenomena (e.g., transference, projection) onto neurocomputational mechanisms and apply AISI to Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), highlighting distorted second-order inference as a core dysfunction. Therapeutic implications include psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral approaches, and psychedelicassisted treatments to enhance inference flexibility. AISI bridges psychodynamic insights with the NIMH Research Domain Criteria, offering a testable model for precision psychiatry and future clinical trials.
Keywords: Clinical Practice, Arlington, VA Word Count: ~7,800 Active inference, predictive processing, psychodynamic theory, Second-order self, Depression, PTSD, Free Energy Principle, Computational Psychiatry
Received: 18 May 2025; Accepted: 24 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Harris. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Herb Harris, private practice, Arlington, United States
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