Edizioni FrancoAngeli - Last issue of GRUPPI (1/2011)

Presentazione del numero

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Flavio Nosè

Can we really speak of "new pathologies"?

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Francesco Conrotto
The author discusses the so-called "new pathologies" - that is, the name given to the most common forms of suffering (depression, psychosomatosis, different types of addiction, eating disorders etc.) - exhibited by the majority of patients asking for psychological help today. Through deep reasoning and rigorous analysis of the formation and functioning of these patients’ psychic apparatus, he demonstrates that in truth, these are not to be seen as "new" pathologies. Obviously, these symptoms are related to social and cultural aspects, and their underlying psychic structure is perfectly explained by Sigmund Freud’s second theory. These psychopathologies have always been treated with psychoanalysis, with no need to resort to any "new theory", but only to apply the necessary technical modifications.

From heteronomy to autonomy

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Silvia Anfilocchi
Through clinical examples derived from her experience as an individual and group psychotherapist with young patients and adolescents, the author illustrates the evolution and functioning of the psychic structures at the basis of each individual position towards rules, laws, ethics and values as they are hypothesized in psychoanalytic theory: Superego, Ego Ideal and Ideal Ego. The relationships and interconnections among these structures are at the basis of the achievement and maintenance of personal autonomy, which is an attainable - but not always possible - state only when adolescence comes to an end.

Essere adolescenti in un corpo malato

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Chiara Maria Bignamini, Barbara Cadonati, Maria Simonetta Spada
Unlike children, who, essentially, see their bodies as tools that can be used to make or feel something, perceiving them as familiar and safe containers, teenagers look at their bodies and require them to play a structuring and integrating function that can support their transforming identity. Illness is often seen as an attack against the body, but in adolescence it risks becoming, above all, a threat to this symbolic function and to the future. More or less consciously, in these situations teenagers often trigger certain self-defence strategies and expedients. Unfortunately, these defences do not always reach the objective they were triggered for and become self-destructive acts or processes of which the teenager is only partially aware. In the article the authors explain some of these critical issues, on the basis of their experience with adolescents who were admitted to the hospital because of chronic or acute diseases, and who often needed a lengthy hospitalization or several surgeries. Finally, the authors suggest some considerations on the importance of a therapeutic function that could preserve the continuity of the growth process and that could reduce the risk of flattening the inner world on disease.

The strain of "feeling one’s own existence"

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Floriano Bresciani
In this work the author tries to identify various levels of specificity regarding therapeutic work in institutional settings (CPS) with young people suffering from psychotic disorders. The work especially raises the awareness that on one side this uneasiness in young people begins much earlier than during their so-called "debut", and on the other the belief that resorting to therapy cannot and must not be seen along the lines of an "institutional routine". The author highlights how the creativity of the group of caregivers plays a decisive role in setting the treatment of these human situations in a space/time span that aims to curb panic and anxiety disorders and to redefine/renegotiate meaning. The above-mentioned work is shared and stems from cooperation and understanding of the individual evolutionary and psychopathological conditions. The "Job Time" experience leads to the realization of a therapeutic group that allows to trace and remodel the characteristics of adolescence, which is caught in a spiral of radical, intense experiences such as those of delirium. The need for confidence can thus be integrated with the need to feel alive and active, so as to resume working on the subjectivization and redefinition of Self. Cooperation with doctors and nurses has proved crucial in understanding and meeting the different needs the young patients demonstrate. During times in which different forms of "therapeutic latency" occurs, cooperation allows for the recovery of signs of emancipation and change. The pleasure of words, of speaking - which fosters exchange and an empowered relationship with the world - remains the basic therapeutic setting.

Adolescent crisis: break or transition

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Patrizia Erlicher, Annamaria Fusaro
The authors highlight the importance of individual, family, and social processes involved in adolescent development and how they may sustain transition to adulthood or, on the other hand, lead to a standstill in growth. They examine pathological dynamics that result in pathological symptoms, which are signs of a break in the continuity of psychic existence. A case discussion points out the importance of earlier relationships and how during psychotherapy sessions they progressively change towards recovery.

The group as a transitional experience

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Virginia Lanfranchi
Adolescence is not simply considered to be a transitional stage from childhood to adulthood, but as one of the main evolutionary landmarks in life, in which childhood identification is restructured to acquire new identification, within an identity that integrates sexual development. In the article, the author stresses the fundamental role peer groups play in adolescents, in favouring and supporting the subjectivization process they again have to go through, functioning as transitional areas in which feelings of discontinuity and loneliness are to be tolerated and, at the same time, projection and introjection of the Self are to be experienced with the aim of constructing new identification. The therapeutic group thus offers an opportunity for the recovery of the psychic position that calls to mind the transitional space - as defined by Winnicott - in which symbolic thought and the ability to relate to external reality and to others develops in a personal and significant way. Therefore, the adolescent process becomes paradigmatic in terms of the ability to go through all stages of change in adulthood.

Regressing in order to grow

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Mariavittoria Metelli
Assuming that the formation of peer groups in adolescence is essentially a physiological phenomenon, the article discusses the psychological meaning - for adolescents - of taking part in a group: the redefinition of one’s own identity in comparison to another that is similar to oneself and emancipation from one’s parents. Compared to groups that are formed spontaneously, adolescent therapy groups highlight a substantial difference: the presence of the adult/therapist. Subsequently, the focus shifts to regression as an intrinsic aspect of psychoanalytic therapeutic work. Thus, through some examples, this article shows how regression occurs specifically in the group field and how it can be kept under control, be processed and transformed.

Drug addiction treatment and Lemoine's psychodrama

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Giuseppe Craparo
This article emphasizes the asymptomatic nature of drug addiction. From a Lacanian perspective, compulsive behaviour is oriented exclusively to a deadly sort of pleasure that is focused on the repudiation of the Other. Through Freud’s psychodrama, drug addicts can construct a symptom oriented to desire of the Other.

The epistemology of the homogeneous group model: notes on the functioning of the therapeutic approach

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Francesca N. Vasta
Primarily, the work provides a few conceptual coordinates to explain how the disease is considered and treated in an analytical group, and subsequently the homogeneous therapeutic group approach is specifically illustrated. The historical context in which the homogeneous group arose and the specific therapeutic factors that have characterized its functioning since then are pointed out; thereafter, the current evolution of the theory and clinical application with special reference to the various courses of action are described. The work is accompanied by clinical examples concerning the specific, relevant therapeutic factors.

Selfwriting

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Corinna Albolino, Maria Galati, Annalisa Pasqualini, Graziella Morandini
The authors propose reflection on the "written word" and the use of words in their written form, starting from a common experience: the encounter with the practice of autobiographical experience at the Free University of Autobiography of Anghiari (LUA, a cultural association founded by Duccio Demetrio. The introduction of the philosophical - and, more generally - the cultural significance of autobiographical writing highlights the stimulating function this mode assumes in terms of self growth in its globality, its curative function in a broad sense with regard to the construction of a narrative identity, and its importance in awakening the function of memory. The story following the encounter with - and experience of - writing takes place in four voices that complement and interpenetrate one another, tackling a number of issues: motivation, the importance of narration, the "choirmaster" and the comparison with psychotherapeutic practice.

Recensioni

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Abstracts

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT