Edizioni FrancoAngeli - Last issue of RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA (1/2012)

Editoriale

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Mirror neurons, action and relation. The acting brain as the building block of the social mind

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Pier Francesco Ferrari, Stefano Rozzi

Neuroscience, neuropsychoanalysis and psychoanalysis: a memorandum to myself and whoever might read this piece

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Howard Shevrin
Brief, personal overview of fifty years of growing interaction between neuroscience, neuropsychoanalysis, and psychoanalysis. The emphasis is on the author’s own contribution to this evolution, and ends with some speculations on where this evolution might now be heading.

Combined psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatment for depression and anxiety. Are psychodynamic psychotherapies and psychoanalysis effective? Historical and neurobiological foundations. Clinical results

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Sebastian A. Alvano
The author presents a review of the literature on the combined treatment psychotherapy and medication - for depression and anxiety disorders utilising the data published in PUBMED, and other specialised journals in pharmacology, psychopharmacology and psychiatry. Nowadays, a number of mental health approaches still consider the cause of mental disorders either in genetic and biological alterations, or in socio-cultural conflicts, regardless of the possible combinations of both genetic-biological and socio-cultural variables. These radical choices produce extreme opinions - on the one hand one has biology and medical prescriptions, on the other social context and interpretations, such standpoints hinder cross-disciplinary approaches. In addition, the developments in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis have been primarily based on cases studies, and only a few on evidence-based trials and comparative analyses of different therapeutic procedures. Yet, over the years, a number of authors have attempted to combine biological and socio-cultural fields of study, without trying to invalidate one of the two. Today, our knowledge of the role played by etiopathogenetic and neurobiological factors in psychiatric disorders highlights the gene-environment interaction and trims down the theoretical dichotomies. Discoveries in neurosciences are revealing the mechanisms underlying therapeutic processes. Furthermore, evidenced-based studies emphasize the importance of integrated care, combining psychotherapy and medication, in particular in depression and anxiety disorders. So far, most clinical trials have made use of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and of interpersonal psychotherapy; however, there is currently a growing number of studies utilising psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.

The symbolic effectiveness of drugs

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Leonardo Montecchi
The author highlights real, imaginary and symbolic features of drug effectiveness. He focuses principally on the symbolic level utilizing Levi Strauss’s theory on the effectiveness of symbols. The French ethno psychiatrist Georges Devereux, in his clinical work, describes the impact of the symbolic level on the effectiveness of a treatment. After that, one of his students, Tobie Nathan underlines the importance of the symbolic dimension Direttore della Scuola di Prevenzione Josè Blegér di Rimini. of "cultural belonging" in the effectiveness of diagnosis and drugs. In short, to understand the effectiveness of a drug, one has to focus primarily on its cultural code. It is the latter that delivers the meaning of a "drug", its cultural background and its different symbolic representations. The author then describes the diverse symbolic representations of drugs making use of anthropological data and clinical cases, and presents a comparative trial on the efficacy of MDMA (Ecstasy). 19 subjects of the research, during a rave party, received randomly either a placebo, or Ecstasy. The analysis of the perceived effects showed that the two groups of subjects could not be differentiated. In other words, to assess the effectiveness of a drug, one has to take into account the setting in which the drug is taken. The Italian professor of Physiology, Fabrizio Benedetti, has also gathered interesting data on the placebo effect. In conclusion, the author argues that to evaluate the effectiveness of a drug one has to establish the specific symbolic tie existing between therapist and patient.

About complementarity: psychotherapy and psychopharmacological treatment

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Massimo De Berardinis
The author describes different characteristics of the relationship between patient, symptoms, medication, therapist and context. These factors are analysed from within a setting of group psychotherapy that includes psychopharmacological treatment. The author stresses how drugs perform their specific biochemical action producing in addition a specific psychodynamic impact. He gives an example of the interference of drugs on the relational dependence between patients, therapist and illness. The concept of "effectiveness" of drugs in a treatment is likewise relativised and reinterpreted by patient and therapist, in relation to the institutional and transferral setting of the treatment.

Evaluativism versus objectivism: Is the question of facts versus values in the analysis of mental illness a factual or a value-laden question?

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Tim Thornton
The degree of insight into the nature of mental illness that neuroscience can offer depends on the nature of mental illness itself: on whether it is an objective, internal matter or evaluative and socially constituted. But there has been long-standing disagreement about this. To shed light on the debate, I draw on, and refine, Zachar and Kendler’s proposed framework for debating psychiatric taxonomy. I argue that a radical externalist account of mental illness (constitutive evaluativist externalism) threatens the role of neuroscience. But, further, the disagreement between such an evaluativist position and its objectivist opposition may concern not only the nature Professore di Filosofia e Salute Mentale. University of Central Lancashire, Regno Unito. of mental illness but also the terms of the debate. The evaluativist can argue that the disagreement itself is not a factual, but rather an evaluative, matter.

The mirror of transparency. A metaphor as conceptual tool relating science and culture: mirror neurons

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Giulia Frezza
The author examines the visual-motor hypothesis of the "mirror neuron mechanism", and highlights how the word "mirror" is metaphorically used in this field to account for an instantaneous and evident recognition of the action performed by others. In contrast, in the present analysis - focused on the intersection between philosophy, literature and psychology - the "culture of the mirror", as "recognition of the other", appears non-linear, problematic and intermittent. It is precisely in the "metaphor of the mirror", a current commonplace cultural object, that one finds examples of the process of recognition, that the neuroscientific hypothesis of the mirror neuron mechanism seems to elude through its linear approach. A metaphor, far from obstructing intelligibility, should be a basic epistemological tool to bring to light the continuous and complex interactions between everyday experience, culture and science.

Differential diagnosis in the assessment of psychopathy and violent behaviors

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Vincenzo Caretti, Stefano Ciulla, Adriano Schimmenti
Psychopathy is a personality disorder entailing traits and behaviors that have a negative impact on individuals and society. These include egocentricity, superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, need for stimulation, pathological lying, manipulative approach to relationships, lack of remorse and guilt, callousness, lack of empathy, impulsivity, irresponsibility, inclination toward criminal behaviors. The term psychopathy has a long history in psychiatry and has been widely discussed; nonetheless, the lack of a specific diagnostic category for assessing psychopathy in the most important psychiatric manuals, and the overlapping of the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy withother disorders - e.g., the Antisocial Personality Disorder, or the Narcissistic Personality Disorder in its overt-malignant expression - led to a confusion in the use of the term. In this article, the main features of psychopathy are critically examined, in order to identify those psychological and behavioral characteristics of the psychopathic personality that allow a differential diagnosis with other disorders sharing some diagnostic criteria with psychopathy. It is indeed necessary to draw a clear distinction between the psychopathic personality disorder and the other disorders, given that the assessment and the eventual treatment of the psychopaths raise complex clinical issues. Furthermore, the clinical and social issues concerning the psychopatic personality are very different from the ones concerning other disorders.

Bruno Callieri (1923-2012) Gli incontri, il pensiero, la vita, la morte

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Gilberto Di Petta

Recensioni

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT