Entries by @dmin

Traumatic representations associated with separation. Acting as dreams that can not be dreamed

Abstract The presentation deals with the reactions to the absence of a therapist. The re-enactment, triggered by the absence of a therapist, provokes an automatic response of hyper-arousal that deprives the patients of the ability to modulate and control anxiety and aggression. This enhances the probability of acting-out. An acting can be regarded as a […]

Candomblé: A small glossary

Glossary Alapini: supreme high priest of the Egungun cult. Axé: sacred energy, vital strength that can be found in man, animals and vegetables. Babalaò: high priest of Ifà, the divination Orixà. Babalorixà: same as pãe de santo, leader of the religious community. Barracão: the room in which the public rituals take place. Bùzio: shells that […]

Self-help groups with women victims of intimate partner violence

Abstract The “social” importance of the debate concerning the phenomenon of intimate partner violence and the possible forms of intervention feasible in its regard is now well established within various scientific disciplines, including the psychological one. The specific contribution that psychology can give, as well as the understanding of the phenomenon, is specifically linked to […]

Experiental group and dream

Abstract The experiential group has a duration defined, a beginning and an end, known by the participants. A purpose, not therapeutic, but explicitly and programmatically “experiential”. A conductor having acquired expertise on the events – the “effects” – the unconscious, is able to perceive what is happening in the group and not only to provide […]

The person internal to the hospital who acts as intermediary and guarantor of the experience. Simonetta Bruni (Part two)

Abstract This paper is about an experience of a group of formation with doctors and nurses on the theme of cancer that we conducted in the oncological ward of the San Filippo Neri Hospital in collaboration with the Psychiatry Service within that hospital. It lasted three months with a weekly frequency. The group was conducted […]

Identification Processes in Group Organisation

Summary The group framework is the cause of a first moment of identity-based anxiety, characterized by the non-differentiation of the group members and the projection of cleaved aggressive and libidinal elements. The group becomes a real object, represented and invested by its members as they organize it into a container/ constructor of their primal anxieties. […]

The institutional container in severe pathologies

Abstract This paper analyzes the problematic interlacement  in Psychiatric Therapeutic Communities between the process of subjectivation, which is singular, and the intersubjective dimension of psychic sufferings, which is plural. Two tools are indicated to support the clinical function of Psychiatric Communities: Psychoanalytic

The Time of Kali: Violence between Religious Groups in India

Abstract The author focuses on the theme of violence between Hindus and Muslims in India in great depth and detail. He conducts an analysis of the phenomena by integrating various points of view: religious, historical, social, economic and psychological. He closely examines the psychological reasons that are the base of the conflicting relationships between the […]

Introduction, Group Psychoterapy with Psychotic and Borderline Patiens

I am honoured to present the fourth number of Funzione Gamma Journal edited by my Italian colleagues and me, about “group psychotherapy with psychotic and borderline patients “. The Funzione Gamma Journal has met with remarkable success, presenting papers coming mostly from a European tradition; with this number we establish a profitable, communicative connection with […]

Genius Loci: The Spirit of a Place, the Spirit of a Group

Abstract The author divided the discussion is divided in three parts. The first, which is very synthetic, will cover some of Bion’s theories as regards “Work Group Mentality”, “Basic Assumptions Group Mentality”, and their respective leaders. In the second he introduced J. Bleger’s “Syncretic Sociality” concept, which introduces a third type of “Group Mentality” different […]

Bulimic images. Interpersonal rereading of a dynamic of a Photolangage© group

Abstract The Photolangage revealed to be an instrument able to stimulate a dialogue among people closed up in the silence of their own experience.Preceding studies and clinical experiences demonstrated its strength in providing a container for the emotions emerging in group paths.This important feature of it permitted us to use the instrument respecting its own […]

Group Field and School Context.

Abstract We have chosen the previous quotation because we consider it accounts for some unconscious beliefs shared by the social groups which are part of the community, such us parents, journalists, teachers, students, politicians and leaders. Based on Bion’s approach to groups, we could say that the aforementioned groups show beliefs that make them work […]

Psychoanalytical considerations on Ingmar Bergman’s “Cries and Whispers”

Abstract The Author rereads Ingmar Bergman’s film “Cries and Whispers” not only as a representation of the process of emotions and thoughts revolving around dying, but also as a potentially transformational experience for the audience’s self that generates a profound change in how they interpret death. Psychoanalytical considerations on the film, juxtaposed with Heidegger’s concept […]

Who dreams in the group?

Abstract The author proposes to investigate the group dimension of the dream. Shows the clinical material of a mixed group, closed, comprising six participants engaged in this approach for reasons of training or treatment, which meets once a week for two years. According to the ‘author’s interpretation of dreams is the royal road to the […]

Presentation, Mith, Dream and Group

In May, 1999 the first issue of Funzione Gamma went on-line. The theme was Dream and Group. Not long after, a second issue on that same theme came out. Three years have gone by and the ninth and current issue focuses on the theme which is Dream, Myth and Group, once again. In a few […]

Psycho-Dynamism of dramisation in groups

Abstract The author relates the dream to a production typical of the group, the dramatic representation and tries to show the similarities and differences between the two. The author takes into consideration the thought of Anzieu (1963), who pointed out the equivalence between the small group and the dream. A group would be, in a […]

Goldfishes with a conscience divided into compartments

Abstract In 1974 Italy changed from being a country of emigrants to a country of immigrants. Thirty years on, immigrants are playing an ever more important role in the country. Facing the consequences of migratory phenomenon, the author seeks to show the relevance of an overall view that doesn’t lose the concreteness of specific references. […]

The difficult patient in group: blendig the mayor psychoanalitic prespectives

Abstract As Horwitz (1977) noted, “Paradoxically, the very qualities and deficits that make the …patient a problematic group member are the same deficits that are often best treated in a group setting” (p.404). This is because group psychotherapy is the medium nonpareil for highlighting and ameliorating the associated relationship conflicts that these difficult patients have. […]

Family groups and anorexia. Therapeutic and interpretative indications in systemic approach

Abstract Author referring to a systems oriented thinking proposes a conception of mental anorexia as a complex syndrome in which socio-cultural, family and individual components are interconnected. Particularly, following the preliminary data of a research in progress, he examines the family groups as an interactional level as well as at a mythical one. Finally he […]

The trauma of childbirth: fallen from the nest. Clinical Narcissism applied to families with hospitalized babies.

Abstract Premature birth is a trauma. Being born prematurely is traumatic. This paper tries to explore the cracks and unexpected situations, created by technical advances and suggests ways for the psychic survival of the mother-son bond. An analogy is used between children’s stories about broken nests saved by fairies and elves and these dramatic day-to-day […]