Showing papers in "International Journal of Psychoanalysis and Education in 2020"

A therapeutic approach for ASD: method and outcome of the DERBBI – Developmental, Emotional Regulation and Body-Based Intervention

Abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder displaying individual impairments in social interaction, communication skills, interest and behaviours. In the last decade several studies have been published on the approaches that can be used with ASD children. This study illustrated the therapeutic approach of the DERRBI method, defined as a relational and body based intervention. The research described the symptoms and emotional development outcomes of ASD children aged 21–66 months, after 2 of the 4 years of planned therapy; the study group included both children who had received a diagnosis of autism and children (under 30 months) who had a risk of developing symptoms. Approximately 78% of the children with a more severe ASD symptomatology after two years of therapy maintained this diagnosis, instead, among children with a less severe ASD symptomatology, about the 67% after two years of therapy no longer fulfilled the ADOS-2 criteria for autism. Among the children who were at risk of developing the autistic symptomatology, about the 42% no longer showed this risk after 2 years of therapy. The improvements that the children showed in their ability to understand the intentions of others and to contact the emotions of others were also investigated. The findings of this study have underlined the importance of early positive indicators which, among the Autisms, could be defined a specific subpopulation that get better benefits from such a type of intervention.

Representations and emotions on Covid-19 in Italy an exploratory research

Abstract: Italy is experiencing a health, economic, social and educational emergency caused by the pandemic spread of COVID-19. The article illustrates the results of a research on the impacts that the restrictions imposed by the Italian government have had on population, which suddenly had to deal with gradually increasing limitations of personal and social freedom, interrupting the usual way of life for an unknown time. The research follows an integrated approach: medical humanities represent the theoretical reference scenario for reading the social perceptions of Covid-19; emotional education for the re-planning of existences; sustainable educational planning for the prospects of change.

Three-Layered Psychological Analysis of an Epidemic: Impact and Legacy of Covid-19

Abstract: The global emergency caused by the spread of virus known as “Covid-19” caught many people by surprise, revealing the precariousness not only of health, but also of many other areas of our life, such as relationships, the economy, politics or the environment. The purpose of this article is to explore broadly how quarantine and the perception of the virus influenced, in an interconnected way, the emotions and behaviors of individuals, society and the human species. From a symbolic and psychodynamic point of view, the COVID-19 can be considered as an unknown, unpredictable and invisible enemy. Due to its indefinite nature, individuals and societies have put in place special defense mechanisms to defend themselves from an intolerable state of uncertainty and anguish. From a broader point of view, the arrival of Covid-19 consists in a breach in the human illusion of omnipotence. It has put humanity in front of its limit and weakness. This unpleasant contact opens the way to an uncertain future. Change seems inevitable, but the nature of it is still unknown. Whether it will be a regressive or evolutionary transformation will depend only on us, as individuals, societies and species.

Defense mechanisms and psychic processes in social exclusion: Clinical considerations

Abstract: Following a post-Kleinian psychoanalytic perspective, this article proposes some considerations on social exclusion, based on the analysis of certain individual and collective defenses. Drawing from G. Di Chiara’s concept of psychosocial syndrome, social exclusion is explained primarily as the result of the mechanisms of inferiorization, exclusion and marginalization of those who are disadvantaged by and opposed to the logic of collective pathologies most prevalent in a given model of society. In our society, the logic of these syndromes, linked together, is especially one that promises a model of social adaptation ferociously based on competition. These mechanisms, triggered by very strong anxieties, repeat themselves in the dynamics of different conditions, according to the prototypical model of pathological narcissism and true racism.

A psychoanalytic and culturalist understanding of gambling

Abstract: In the mainstream approach, gambling is regarded as the expression of illness, related to individual deficits, and the gambler is viewed as an individual free from social and cultural influences. On the other hand, anthropological and cross-cultural studies show that cultural variations exist in the meaning of gambling, its course and outcome. In this paper, a psychoanalytic and culturalist interpretation of gambling is outlined, asserting the unity of mind and context. The g ambling dynamic is framed as the marker of the mind’s affective way of making sense of experience. The various ways the dynamic is manifested, the individual and social implications are seen as strictly intertwined with the social-cultural context where sensemaking develops. The clinical implications of this perspective will be underlined with regard to the way the request of help is approached, the role of the therapist in the clinical setting and the wider socio-cultural environment in generating or limiting new semiotic opportunities for the individuals and their behaviour.

Psychopathology simulation: clinical expertise

Abstract: Each clinical act, whether strictly therapeutic or expert in nature, presupposes an assessment of the credibility of our interlocutor. This necessary and preliminary act becomes all the more important as our doing gets closer to the expert (professional) dimension. But simulating a mental illness or, on the contrary, pretending not to have problems when instead you are afflicted by a psychiatric condition, are all behaviors united by the fact that the subject who carries them out, reports a lie with respect to the real condition, with motivations and purposes that can be completely different. Clinical analysis is the only one that can demonstrate and discriminate the real disorder from those who are not. In light of this, the present work intends to highlight how the simulation of pathology in the expert field is a field that needs further study as it is complex and at the same time rich in phenomena that does not allow an easy solution and which necessarily require the examination of different levels.

Sophocles’ Diagnosis: Psychoanalysis and the Many Faces of Oedipus

Abstract: The Oedipus myth has a special meaning for the history of psychoanalysis. An analysis of the historical variation of the myth treatment within the theatre gives new insights about the possible interpreation. Comparing the various psychoanalytic interpretations of Sophocles’ tragedy also gives interesting indications on the same subject .