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From the lonely crowd to the cyber mob: Fromm on the social consequences of loneliness International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-02-14 Ilene Philipson
In 1950, sociologist David Riesman published a best-selling book entitled The lonely crowd: A study of the changing American character. Famously, he described the ascendant “other directed” person ...
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The ontological structure of Erich Fromm’s critical humanism International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-02-12 Michael J. Thompson
This paper explores Erich Fromm’s concept of humanism, arguing that it provides us with a unified theory for both clinical work as well as social criticism. Fromm’s humanistic ideas are rooted in a...
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Dying to be born: How the failure to achieve mature love keeps humanity shackled to a necrophilic orientation International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Meredith L. Friedson
Humanity is in crisis, and has been accelerating toward its own destruction. This is evident in: apathy toward climate change and the extinction of several species; the repetitive cycle of genocide...
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Rethinking the birth of psychoanalysis: Disconnection, censorship, and self-censorship International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-01-23 Carlo Bonomi
Did young Freud face the horrors of little girls’ circumcision in pediatric wards? Did Freud refuse to have his sons ritually circumcised? Did Emma Eckstein, Freud’s main female patient in the cour...
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Binocular vision in the total situation International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-01-22 Chris Joannidis
This paper investigates the concept of “total situation,” which, even though introduced into psychoanalytic thinking via sister disciplines, has gradually acquired a relatively prominent position i...
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Why truth matters: Some notes on psychotherapy post truth International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-01-24 Sandra Buechler
The very existence of truth, let alone its worth, is currently under attack from many quarters. In the wider culture, disinformation and other forms of misrepresenting the truth spread far and wide...
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The power of music: Psychoanalytic explorations International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-01-22 Ingrid Erhardt
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Erich Fromm’s social psychoanalysis: Beyond the interpersonal dyad International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-01-08 Roger Frie
This article addresses the place of society in Erich Fromm's pioneering psychoanalytic work and in the evolution of interpersonal theory and practice. It suggests that there is much to be gained fr...
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Is the Oedipus complex an iatrogenic theory? Book essay on Jerome C. Wakefield, Freud’s Argument for the Oedipus Complex: A Philosophy of Science Analysis of the Case of Little Hans (Routledge, 2023) and Attachment, Sexuality, Power: Oedipal Theory as Regulator of Family Affection in Freud’s Case of Little Hans (Routledge, 2023) International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-01-08 Carlo Bonomi
For almost a century, the fate and identity of psychoanalysis have been inseparable from the theory of the Oedipus complex. However, in these two books, Jerome Wakefield persuasively demonstrates t...
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The Influence of Argentine psychoanalytic culture in Italy International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2024-01-08 Lorenzo Sartini
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many Italians emigrated to South America, especially to Argentina and Brazil, in search of a better life than the one they were living in a cou...
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Psychoanalytic theories and techniques: Dialogue, difficulties and future, Part One International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-12-19 Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Torres
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 32, No. 4, 2023)
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The digital age and psychoanalysis: New frontiers of the setting and therapeutic challenges International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-12-19 Serena Previdi, Anna Buzzi, Mariagiovanna Cozza
We reflect on the concept of the setting in psychoanalysis, and how it has been radically reconsidered given the impact of the SARS-CoV-19 pandemic on human interactions and moving from face-to-fac...
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Psychoanalysis in the time of coronavirus: From an onboard logbook during the pandemic International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-12-19 Anna Maria Loiacono
During the lockdown, we, as analysts, had to face new situations, which disrupted our habitual mode of working and challenged our ability to adapt. I discovered that having a supportive relationshi...
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At the roots of Italian Field Theory International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-12-12 Gabriele Cassullo, David G. Power
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 32, No. 3, 2023)
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Interview with Alessandro Bruni International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-12-12 Alessandra Di Biase
In this interview with Alessandro Bruni, we intend to retrace a part of the history of the Pollaiolo di Roma (CRG), discussing Bruni's encounter with W. R. Bion and collaboration with Francesco Cor...
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Harry Stack Sullivan and Stephen Mitchell in Italy – A historical and a personal account International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-12-12 Marco Conci
Having introduced readers to the history of the reception of psychoanalysis in Italy, the author reconstructs the history of the Italian reception of the work of Harry Stack Sullivan (1892–1949) an...
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Back to our senses: Some (psycho)somatic aspects of the digestive system and their potential relevance to the study of eating disorders International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Michael Schein
This work explores various aspects of the digestive system’s functioning during the early stages of development. These functions become systemically associated with our emotional experience, formin...
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Restoring the links in countertransference International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-10-09 Aleksandras Kulak
Psychoanalytic theory and practice consider both transference and countertransference as cornerstones for understanding those complicated psychological phenomena which psychoanalysis and psychoanal...
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Adolescence as a phenomenon of the field and affection as a vector of at-one-ment in the analytic relationship International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Angelo Antonio Moroni
Abstract I believe that clinical work with adolescents provides extremely valuable contributions in the Field Theory area. The observation and care of adolescents has always made me think how growth is a painful process of separation from and rediscovery of the lost object in après-coup, how important it is for us analysts not to lose touch with our human gaze, and above all with the meaning of the
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From the abyss of loneliness to the bliss of solitude: Cultural, social and psychoanalytic perspectives International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-08-25 Alberto Stefana
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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In the footsteps of Francesco Corrao: Reflections on a number of key problems in contemporary psychoanalysis International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-08-25 Giuseppe Di Chiara
In his work, Francesco Corrao has addressed cutting-edge themes developed in psychoanalysis between the 1960s and the 1980s. A contemporary re-reading of his writings offers a valuable opportunity ...
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Burdening guilt: Theoretical and clinical features International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-08-24 Francesco Gazzillo, Jessica Leonardi
Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore the theoretical and clinical features of burdening guilt according to control-mastery theory (CMT), an integrative, relational cognitive-dynamic theory of mental functioning, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. CMT posits that burdening guilt stems from the belief that one’s emotions, needs, and way of being are a burden to significant others. After having
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War, death, safety, and love in life and psychoanalysis International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-08-23 Marco Conci, Gabriele Cassullo
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 32, No. 2, 2023)
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Politics, psychoanalysis, and large group identity International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-08-23 Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Torres
Since Freud's contributions, psychoanalysis has devoted attention to group phenomena in the field of politics. Volkan and Kernberg stand out today for providing conceptual tools for analyzing polit...
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Interpretation in a “personal” field perspective International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Franco Borgogno
This is a revision and expansion of a classic paper that was first delivered as a speech, in October 1994, for the 10th National Conference of the Italian Psychoanalytical Society, and then publish...
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Passion and tenderness as political forces International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-08-16 Jô Gondar
To understand contemporary forms of social organization it is not enough to know the geopolitics that currently pertain; it is also necessary to enter the field of micropolitics and, particularly, ...
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The dream-like event International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-08-10 Gideon Lev
Abstract Sometimes real-life events seem unreal, due to their highly symbolic nature and relevance to the person’s inner life. In this paper, I propose that although these events are actual, lived occurrences, they can be treated like dreams, with significant clinical effect. These “dream-like” events (DLEs) – distinguished from Jung’s synchronicity events – seem to be universal, even though some people
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Memories of a chaotic world. Growing up as the daughter of Annie Reich and Wilhelm Reich International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Galina Hristeva, Roland Kaufhold
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 32, No. 2, 2023)
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Does it still taste like psychoanalysis?: Experiences of collaborating with universities in psychoanalytic training International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-07-14 Jan Johansson
There has been a striking lack of interest in reforming training and creating new forms of transmitting the essential knowledge required to function as a psychoanalyst. This paper presents a model ...
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The divining rod: Pioneering explorations of the psychoanalytic field International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-07-14 Rita Corsa
At the turn of the twentieth century, curiosity about paranormal events, in particular clairvoyance and telepathy through the state of hypnotic trance, spread widely throughout the Old World and th...
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Psychoanalysis, philosophy and politics: Aspects of 50 years of the Institut für Psychoanalyse Zürich-Kreuzlingen International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Klaus Hoffmann
The Institut für Psychoanalyse Zürich-Kreuzlingen (IfP) was founded as a working group in 1972. Its founder Norman Elrod graduated from the Carl-Gustav-Jung-Institute in Zurich and followed a polit...
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One hundred years of psychotherapy and fifty years of clinical practice: Reflections of a psychotherapist and questions for psychoanalysis International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-06-28 Alejandro Ávila Espada
Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy have evolved deeply over the past half century. This paper shows some the changes I have witnessed in them, and the challenges we face in this change...
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The analytic field as bipersonal and multidimensional container International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-06-28 Michele Bezoari
The title of this article encapsulates an approach to the notion of the analytic field where the contributions of the Barangers and Bion converge, opening up new perspectives that the author began ...
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Attempting a metapsychology for tele-copresence International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-06-26 Lucio Alberto Gutiérrez Herane
The concepts of immersion and digital presence have been widely used in the human–computer interaction and virtual environment research fields and have been particularly valuable when it comes to a...
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Origins and destinies of the Bion field theory International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-06-20 Antonino Ferro, Luca Nicoli
The authors trace the history and development of the Bion field theory (BFT) model in Italy and around the world, and address the human and professional aspects that characterize the profession of ...
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The objectification of mankind in consumerist societies: A post-Lacanian perspective International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-06-20 Jacqueline Oliveira Moreira, Angela Bucciano do Rosario, Fuad Kyrillos Neto
Abstract The paper outlines the effects of consumerism on the human subject and human bonds. The present text discusses, through Freud’s conceptualization of “object,” the process leading to a possible objectification of mankind in consumerist societies. Later, Hegelian arguments are also used in an effort to differentiate “object of consumption” and “object of desire,” which are often interpreted
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Martti Siirala and Gaetano Benedetti – Friends in the dialogical and psychotherapeutic sharing of burdens International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-06-14 Juhani Ihanus
Abstract This article explores the dialogical collaboration and friendship between Martti Siirala and Gaetano Benedetti, particularly in the development of the psychotherapy of schizophrenia and the human psychotherapeutic attitude toward carrying and sharing burdens. Siirala and Benedetti outlined a psychotherapy that considers existential and philosophical dimensions alongside the clinical aspects
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From psychoanalytic ego psychology to relational psychoanalysis, a historical and clinical perspective International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Marco Conci, Gabriele Cassullo
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2023)
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Psychoanalytic theories and techniques: Dialogue, difficulties and future – Papers from the XXIInd IFPS Forum, Madrid, October 19–22, 2022 International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Marco Conci
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2023)
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Safety in control-mastery theory International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-03-01 Eleonora Fiorenza, Marianna Santodoro, Nino Dazzi, Francesco Gazzillo
Abstract This study presents an overview of the development of the main psychoanalytic conceptions regarding safety, an aspect that has received increasing attention within the psychoanalytic literature. After describing the hypotheses of Sigmund Freud, Joseph Sandler, John Bowlby, and Harry Stack Sullivan, the study focuses on the ideas proposed by Joseph Weiss and on control-mastery theory (CMT)
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Metaphors in psychoanalytic theory – Do we need them? International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-03-01 Siegfried Zepf
Abstract The author questions Wallerstein’s conviction that psychoanalytic concepts are “scientific metaphors.” If one were to adopt his view, psychoanalysis would fall into line with Lakoff and Johnson′s thesis that the conceptual system of our thoughts and actions is basically metaphorically structured. The author rejects both their views by demonstrating how the system inherent in our conceptual
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Voices from the war: Some notes on the emotional experience of the war in Ukraine told by two Ukrainian psychoanalysts International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-02-27 Paola Solano, Michele Vargiu, Ksenia Zaitseva
Abstract What is the real experience of war? How does our mind react to the sudden threats and losses of our lives, homes, and beloved objects? What understandings can it offer to make sense of the atrocities it witnesses? What adjustments can we carry out in these circumstances? Two colleagues from Kharkiv, Ukraine, and affiliated to the Ukrainian Psychoanalytic Study Group and the Institute of the
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Conditions for love: The psychoanalytic situation and the analyst’s emotions International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-02-23 Gideon Lev
Abstract Freud has stated that the psychoanalytic cure is effected through the love of the patient for the analyst. This paper claims that the analyst’s love towards the patient is often essential as well. Countertransference love might indeed be associated with therapeutic risks, yet it is often a crucial part of the analytic process, since in order to be able to change, many people need to feel loved
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From green grass to green fields: Intersubjective thoughts about “generative” envy and jealousy International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-01-11 Kopel Eliezer
Abstract In this paper ‘jealousy’ and ‘envy’ are discussed from a unique perspective: as therapeutic goals rather than as maladaptive mechanisms. Furthermore, I suggest that jealousy be regarded as a performance of love. Four states are distinguished here; two of them are ‘primal narcissistic’, and the other two are ‘intersubjective’. Intersubjective envy and jealousy should be embraced as a ‘welcome
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Psychoanalytic ego psychology: A European perspective International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-01-04 Marco Conci
Abstract The best way to reconstruct the history of psychoanalytic ideas is to begin from the study not of theories, but of the various authors and their contexts. Important contributions to the study of the ego in Europe had already come from Ferenczi and Fenichel, well before Hartmann founded Ego Psychology (EP), which became mainstream in North America. In Europe, before World War II, significant
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Veiling and unveiling: Identity formation in young Muslim women living in Germany International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2023-01-04 Lena Barth, Paul Kaiser, Gonca Tuncel-Langbehn, Barbara Ruettner, Lutz Goetzmann
Abstract This qualitative study addresses the question of how a background of migration, nationalization, and globalization influences young Muslim women residing in Germany who form their identity and position themselves successfully in modern society. It includes 25 interviews with young Muslim women in the age group 18–25 years whose parents or grandparents migrated to Germany from Turkey. In terms
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The multiple dimensions of our contemporary psychoanalytic discourse International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-11-13 Marco Conci
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Probing the impact of psychoanalytic therapy for bipolar disorders: A scoping review International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-09-20 Alberto Stefana, Daniela D’Imperio, Antonios Dakanalis, Eduard Vieta, Paolo Fusar-Poli, Eric Youngstrom
Abstract No systematic review has been conducted to provide an overview of the effectiveness of psychoanalysis for treatment outcomes in bipolar depression and mania. The present study undertakes a scoping review of the effectiveness of psychoanalysis for bipolar disorder (BD), provides a summary of the evidence base, and identifies issues for future research in this area. A thorough search of journal
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“Being myself as the analyst I have become:” An interview with Jay B. Frankel International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-08-08 Aleksandar Dimitrijević
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2023)
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When patients probe the analyst: Manifestations of patient testing and its complexity – An in-depth exploration of case examples of extant research International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-06-29 Alexandra Nicole Novak, Jonas Luedemann, Sylke Andreas
Abstract Patients probe the analyst with the goal of challenging pathogenic adaptations to early experiences. As the core concept of control mastery theory (CMT), testing is contextualized within psychoanalytic theory. The current work examines 29 articles illustrating therapies performed or analyzed using the CMT approach for the occurrence of testing, which takes place through interaction, self-presentation
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Mentalization promotion and affect mobilization in clinical work International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-04-25 Daniela de Robertis
Abstract The author presents a model of clinical intervention based on patients’ mentalization, or mind reading, that is, the function of the mind to understand the mind. The action of mind reading means a type of thought, mostly not conscious, implicit, often not even encoded in words, that expresses the meaning “I think that you think that I think.” Thoughts about the analyst’s states of mind crowd
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Unresolved shadows: German encounters in the consulting room International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-04-12 Stefanie Sedlacek
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Reflections on dying patients, hospices, assisted suicide, and euthanasia International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-04-05 Christer Sjödin
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, with Sandra Sherman. Psychotherapy and personal change: Two minds in a mirror International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-03-08 Henry Zvi Lothane
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Evolution of Freudian psychoanalytic thought in the twentieth-century USA: The influence of the European émigrés International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Harold P. Blum, Elsa J. Blum
Abstract This paper briefly reviews major theoretical and clinical changes in American psychoanalysis since its beginning in the early twentieth century. The immigration of European analysts in the 1930s and 40s was of major significance. Infant development research promoted a shift towards the importance of object relations, reducing the importance of the Oedipus complex. The increasing focus on narcissism
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Gender dysphoria – A therapeutic model for working with children, adolescents and young adults International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-02-01 Michael B. Buchholz
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Online psychoanalysis: Interview with Paolo Migone International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-02-01 Giuseppe Salerno
Published in International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Sense of self and psychosis, part 1: Identification, differentiation and the body; A theoretical basis for amniotic therapy International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-01-31 Maurizio Peciccia, Livia Buratta, Martina Ardizzi, Alessandro Germani, Giulia Ayala, Francesca Ferroni, Claudia Mazzeschi, Vittorio Gallese
Abstract We will describe in two articles (“Sense of self and psychosis”, 1 and 2) the theoretical basis and the methodology of a new therapeutic group approach called amniotic therapy, which aims to improve the sense of self of psychotic patients. In this first article we explore the role of the surface of the body and its early sensorimotor interactions in the processes of self/other identification
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Sense of self and psychosis, part 2: A single case study on amniotic therapy International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-01-31 Maurizio Peciccia, Alessandro Germani, Martina Ardizzi, Livia Buratta, Francesca Ferroni, Claudia Mazzeschi, Vittorio Gallese
Abstract Some people diagnosed with schizophrenia show an alteration of the sense of self. From a psychodynamic perspective, it has been hypothesized they have disorders of the integration of self/other identification/differentiation processes. From a neuroscientific view some with this diagnosis present dysfunctions in neural correlates of representation of self from other (the implicit sensorimotor-based
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Paul Williams’ portrayal of the psychological growth of the narrator in The fifth principle and Scum, part 2* International Forum of Psychoanalysis Pub Date : 2022-01-25 Robert Ehrlich