Metabolism enters the depth-psychology corpus along two distinct axes, each carrying different theoretical weight. The first, philosophically the more consequential, is Hans Jonas’s phenomenological biology as developed and extended by Evan Thompson: metabolism is not merely a biochemical fact but the ontological ground of selfhood, teleology, and concern. In Thompson’s rendering of Jonas, metabolism is ‘the constant regeneration of an island of form amidst a sea of matter and energy,’ the process by which an organism marks off an internal identity, constitutes its own norms, and acquires the minimal ‘concern’ that Spinoza named conatus. This reading binds metabolism to autopoiesis, individuality, and the emergence of mind from life — making it a central term in enactivist and phenomenological psychology. The second axis is neurodevelopmental and clinical: Schore’s affect-regulation programme tracks oxidative metabolism (cytochrome oxidase activity, glucose transport, blood-brain barrier maturation) as the energetic substrate of cortical differentiation and emotional development. A third, more applied axis appears in addiction and nutritional psychology, where altered metabolism among substance-using populations indexes disrupted homeostasis, disturbed body composition, and impaired recovery. Marion Woodman’s Jungian somatic psychology adds a fourth register, treating body metabolism as the biological ground upon which psychic shadow problems are enacted. Together these positions reveal metabolism as a concept that travels from the philosophy of life to clinical neuroscience to somatic depth work.
Metabolism is the constant regeneration of an island of form amidst a sea of matter and energy. Metabolism establishes a self with an internal identity marked off from the outside world and whose being is its own doing.
Thompson, following Jonas, argues that metabolism is the foundational teleological process through which life constitutes selfhood, internal norms, and immanent purposiveness.
, Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind, 2007thesis
The constant regenerative activity of metabolism endows life with a minimal ‘concern’ to carry on being. Spinoza called this concern conatus, the effort and power of life to preserve itself.
Thompson links metabolic regeneration to Spinoza’s conatus, arguing that the ceaseless material turnover of metabolism is the biological basis of the organism’s drive to persist in existence.
, Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind, 2007thesis
For Bitbol and Luisi, ‘cognition is tantamount to metabolism.’ They distinguish two steps or levels of cognition. The first corresponds to the normal metabolic assimilation of select compounds from the environment.
Thompson relays the Bitbol-Luisi thesis that cognition is structurally equivalent to metabolism, using Piagetian assimilation and accommodation as analogues for two metabolic-cognitive levels.
, Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind, 2007supporting
Its identity cannot be based on the constancy of matter because its material composition is constantly renewed: ‘Every five days you get a new stomach lining.’
Thompson articulates the dialectical paradox that organismic identity persists precisely through metabolic turnover rather than through material constancy.
, Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind, 2007supporting
Body Metabolism: The body is a magnificently tuned machine, programmed to metabolize carbohydrate, protein, and fat.
Woodman grounds her depth-psychological analysis of obesity and anorexia in the basic biology of body metabolism, treating metabolic disruption as the somatic expression of shadow material.
, The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa and the Repressed Feminine: a Psychological Study, 1980supporting
life as we know it requires both metabolic self-maintenance and the replication of nucleic acids.
Thompson invokes Dyson’s dual-origin thesis to establish that metabolic self-maintenance, not genetic replication alone, is a necessary condition for biological individuality.
, Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind, 2007supporting
activity of cytochrome oxidase, an indicator of oxidative metabolism, in the brain is low at birth, increases over postnatal development, and peaks during the developmental period of most rapid growth and maturation.
Schore documents oxidative metabolism as the neurobiological substrate of cortical maturation, linking metabolic activity directly to the stages of emotional and self development.
, Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development, 1994supporting
the closure of the blood-brain barrier during development is, consequently, indicative of the differentiation processes occurring in individual brain cells.
Schore describes how dopaminergic regulation of the blood-brain barrier enables the onset of aerobic oxidative metabolic processes required for brain region maturation.
, Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development, 1994supporting
Both imprinting and arousal are associated with increased metabolic activity. During the period of postnatal brain maturation, blood flow, known to correlate with changes in arousal level, and to be an indicator of regional oxidative metabolism, rises to maximal levels.
Schore correlates heightened metabolic activity with imprinting and arousal during postnatal development, implicating metabolic energy demand in the formation of early emotional attachments.
, Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development, 1994supporting
this population has hidden deficiencies and disturbed metabolic parameters. Socioeconomic factors positively affect nutritional status.
Mahboub establishes that chronic substance use produces disturbed metabolic parameters that are not captured by anthropometric measures alone, pointing to systemic metabolic dysregulation in addiction.
, Nutritional status and eating habits of people who use drugs and/or are undergoing treatment for recovery: a narrative review, 2021supporting
there appears to be an altered metabolism among subjects with DUD. Nutrient intake has not been found to be associated with BMI in subjects with DUD.
Jeynes identifies a substance-use-specific metabolic alteration in which the normal relationship between nutrient intake and body composition is disrupted.
, The importance of nutrition in aiding recovery from substance use disorders: A review, 2012supporting
mammals and birds present metabolic modifications that facilitate oxygen… present a predominant anaerobic metabolism. Such low metabolic potentials of ectotherms reduce their ability for spatial exploration.
Alcaro and Carta link endothermic metabolic modifications to the amplification of imaginative and exploratory capacities, grounding the evolution of reflective mind in metabolic endowment.
, The ‘Instinct’ of Imagination: A Neuro-Ethological Approach to the Evolution of the Reflective Mind and Its Application to Psychotherapy, 2019supporting
Metabolism, continuance in space and time, 151–156
A bibliographic index entry confirming that Thompson treats metabolic continuance in space and time as a dedicated analytical topic within his enactivist framework.
, Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind, 2007aside
intestinal bacteria intervene directly in our neurotransmitter metabolism, especially in the serotonin metabolism.
Mörkl situates neurotransmitter metabolism at the interface of the gut-brain axis, linking microbial activity to the metabolic regulation of serotonin relevant to psychiatric conditions.
, The Role of Nutrition and the Gut-Brain Axis in Psychiatry: A Review of the Literature, 2020aside