Two diverging paths in psychological and neurobiological organization: using or refusing love

This short communication expands and elaborates on the model presented in our original article “Two Diverging Paths in Psychological and Neurobiological Organization: Using or Refusing Love” through engagement with our commentators. The Novicks prompt a discussion of matters of prevention and timing of interventions to facilitate movement from closed to open systems of functioning. Flores Mosri leads to an elaboration of issues of agency in the background of neurobiological cascades. With Barrett, we delineate the interdisciplinary nature of our model through multiple registers of inquiry, and with Hoffman, we make an excursion into the origins of aggression. Finally, Rizzolo guides us to thoughts on nonlinear movement between open and closed systems and an extended clinical vignette. The case of Mark provides an illustration through work over nearly two decades in which the patient’s creativity within music marked a movement from closed to open systems of functioning. We end with an expansion of our belief in our model’s utility for community engagement and prevention.