Contents & abstracts




Theory and Technique

Oliva S. Notes on Prejudice Against the Maternal and the Feminine. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1,

2021, 1-11. 


The article applies a psychoanalytical perspective to reflect both on the prejudice against the maternal and the feminine in general and on those specific features that distinguish it from racial, religious or cultural prejudice. The author reasons about the nature of these specific features with the help of conceptual formulations from the Hungarian School of Psychoanalysis and R. Britton’s concept of belief.


Focus

Creativity in Clinical Work in the Time of Coronavirus


Costis A. Introduction. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 12-19.


Clinical Fragments:

Irilli F. Giulio and the Circus – The Story of a Consultation that Survived Lockdown. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 20-21.

Di Lucia E. Beyond the Distance. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 22-23.

Tronati V. The Rebus and the Inner World. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 24-26.


Fusacchia M.G. Setting’s Migration. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 27-34.


The author’s brief notes intend to open a reflection on psychic processes, particularly those of working through the experience of a setting’s migration caused by the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The key reading is the one regarding the activation of those creative processes in the transferential relationship that, through virtual devices, allow a triggering of developments that can transform experiences of impotence, loss and a break in the feeling of continuity.




Clinical Fragments:

Brando M. “Is it yours or mine?”. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 35-37.

Bonaminio G. Traumatic Elements and Transformative Potential. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 38-39.

Nitiffi C. Is Transference a “Live” Experience?. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 40-41.


Algini M.L. Transference’s Dislocations. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 42-47.


The author raises some questions regarding transference and its “dislocation” during this historic moment when clinical work has encountered new problems. In order to preserve continuity, for example, it has often been necessary to resort to a pendulum swinging between  “in-person” and online sessions, with each of the two protagonists – psychotherapist and patient – in a place unknown to the other. What are the repercussions for the dynamics of both the patient’s and the psychotherapist's transference?



Algini M.L., Barda M., Bonaminio G., Bonfantini S., Brando M., Castelnuovo A., Chiarello L., Fiore C., Gangi S., Volpes V. Thinking as a Group During Lockdown. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 48-54.


The article offers some glimpses of the experience of thinking in a group with colleagues during and after lockdown. It highlights how sharing the personal and professional disorientation into which the pandemic plunged individuals not only made valuable exchanges possible at many levels but also unlocked formerly unforeseeable relational potential and vitality.


Clinical Reflections

Grassi L. Psychoanalysis for Parents and Families as Multi-Subject Sets. Richard & Piggle,

29, 1, 2021, 55-72.


Psychoanalysis for multi-subject sets like couples and families requires specific conceptual tools such as trans-generational and transpersonal transmission, the boundary function, engaging, the “vinculo” or bonding, the ectopic unconscious, the incestual and the phoric function. Even interpretation and work with transference and counter-transference assume different configurations and conjugations; a polyphonic, receding form of listening that is sensitive to all the forms that unconscious derivatives assume becomes necessary. The family has a phantasmal organization characterised by shared phantasies, rites, myths and even a common body. Its central function is to guarantee continuity down the generations but also to process the internal and external otherness inherent in human beings and relationships.



Micanzi Ravagli B. Psychoanaltical Assessment in the Case of a Specific Learning Disorder. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 73-82.


Albeit based on very few meetings, psychoanalytical assessment made a significant contribution to understanding Francesca’s learning disorder, after referral by the school in relation to her difficulties with reading and writing. It became clear during the consultation sessions that the little girl’s thought organization was being obstructed by very intense, primitive forms of anxiety. These were paralysing her drive to know and, in short, preventing her making the best use of her inner resources by developing the industriousness and commitment proper to the latency period. The archaic nature of this conflict explained the little girl’s inhibition and reluctance regarding free inquiry, curiosity and exploration and, without an appropriate form of psychotherapeutic assistance, risked compromising her growth and having serious repercussions on her development.


Psychoanalytical Work within Institutions and Health Care Services

Bonassi E. A Green Light During the Covid-19 Emergency. Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021,

83-92.


The Ministry of Health activated a free-phone helpline during the Coronavirus emergency.  Available from April to June 2020, it was called by more than 50,000 people “requesting help”.  The first response was offered by emergency psychologists who chose which requests to pass on to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists belonging to the accredited Associations that had made themselves available. Intervention occurred by way of free telephone or online interviews (up to four in number), followed by a further interview one month later if necessary. Pursuing the relationship at a private professional level was expressly prohibited. The author uses the expression “requesting help” to convey the urgency and pressure felt by the people who, fleeing their fear, sought comfort in being listened to. But who were the people requesting help and what did the author find herself listening to? The pandemic has often caused old problems to re-emerge and worsen, thereby producing inexpressible anxieties and great malaise but it has also offered an important opportunity to reflect on one’s own life. For many people, intervention – for all its brevity – became a journey in awareness that resulted in significant changes.


The Enchanting Screen

Tiseo G. Lion. Directed by Garth Davis (2016). Richard & Piggle, 29, 1, 2021, 93-95.


Reviews


Recommended Reading


Contents & Abstract