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site (History of Psychiatry and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy )
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subscribe our monthly newsletter)
Ce.Psi.Di. (Centro
di Psicoterapia Dinamica "Mauro Mancia")
Maitres ą dispenser
(Our reviews about psychoanalytic congresses)
Biblio Reviews
(Recensioni)
Congressi ECM (in italian)
Events (our
congresses)
Tatiana Rosenthal and
... other 'psycho-suiciders'
Thalassa. Portolano
of Psychoanalysis
PsychoWitz
- Psychoanalysis and Humor (...per ridere un po'!)
Giuseppe Leo's Art Gallery
Spazio
Rosenthal (femininity and psychoanalysis)
Psicoanalisi Europea Video Channel
A.S.S.E.Psi. Video Channel
Ultima uscita/New issue:
"Perchč la
guerra in Ucraina ed in Europa? Psicoanalisi, trauma e resilienza"
A cura di Giuseppe Leo
Scritti di: V. Blikhar N.
Kalka
H. Katolyk L. Kuzo G. Leo
A. Marchuk
M. Tsyvinska S. Varvin
V. D. Volkan K. Zaitseva
Editore:
Frenis Zero
Collana: Id-entitą Mediterranee
Anno: 2024
Pagine: 253
ISBN: 978-88-97479-76-5
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Psicoanalisi in
una Terra Sacra. Possono gli psicoanalisti contribuire al dialogo
israelo-palestinese?"
A cura di Ambra Cusin & Giuseppe Leo
Scritti di: H.
Abramovitch A. Cusin G. Leo
M. Roth M. P. Salatiello V. Volkan
Publisher:
Frenis Zero
Collection: Id-entitą Mediterranee
Year: 2024
Pages: 243
ISBN: 978-88-97479-74-1
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Psychoanalysis
in a Holy Land" (English Edition)
Edited by Ambra Cusin & Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: H. Abramovitch A. Cusin
G. Leo M. Roth
M. P. Salatiello V. Volkan
Publisher:
Frenis Zero
Collection: Mediterranean Id-entities
Year: 2024
Pages: 227
ISBN: 978-88-97479-47-5
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Supervision
and Psychoanalysis" (English edition)
Edited by Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: A.
Bass N.
Hoffmann
G. Leo
N. McWilliams D. Meltzer
G.
Riefolo M. Schmolke et
al.
Publisher:
Frenis Zero
Collection: Borders of Psychoanalysis
Year: 2023
Pages: 200
ISBN: 978-88-97479-46-8
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Supervisione e Psicoanalisi" (Italian
edition)
A cura di Giuseppe Leo
Scritti di A.
Bass N. Hoffmann G. Leo
N. McWilliams D. Meltzer G.
Riefolo M. Schmolke et
al.
Editore Frenis
Zero
Collana Confini
della Psicoanalisi
Anno 2023
Pagine 210
ISBN 978-88-97479-44-4
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Why War in
Ukraine and in Europe? Psychoanalysis, Trauma, and Resiliency" (English
Edition)
Edited by Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: V. Blikhar N.
Kalka
H. Katolyk L. Kuzo G. Leo
A. Marchuk
M. Tsyvinska S. Varvin
V. D. Volkan K. Zaitseva
Publisher:
Frenis Zero
Collection: Mediterranean Id-entities
Year: 2023
Pages: 235
ISBN: 978-88-97479-42-0
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Neuroscience
and Psychoanalysis" (3rd English Edition)
Edited by Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: D.
Mann
G.Northoff
J. Przybyła A. N.
Schore
R. Stickgold B.A. Van Der
Kolk G.
Vaslamatzis M.P. Walker
Publisher:
Frenis Zero
Collection: Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience
Year: 2023
Pages: 321
ISBN: 978-88-97479-40-6
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Infant
research e psicoanalisi" (ediz. italiana)
A cura di: Giuseppe Leo
Scritti di: B.
Beebe K.
Lyons-Ruth J. P.
Nahum D. Schechter E. Solheim
C. Trevarthen E. Z.
Tronick
L. Vulliez-Coady
Editore: Frenis Zero
Collana: Confini della psicoanalisi
Year: 2022
Pages: 276
ISBN: 978-88-97479-38-3
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Crisi ecologica e pandemia. Una sfida per la
psicoanalisi"
A cura di Giuseppe Leo
Scritti di: Hilda
Catz, Anna Ferruta, Marco Francesconi, Pietro R. Goisis, Robert
Hinshelwood Giuseppe Leo, Nancy McWilliams, Giuseppe Riefolo, Merav
Roth, Cosimo Schinaia, Daniela Scotto Di Fasano, Robert D. Stolorow
Editore: Frenis Zero
Collana: Confini della Psicoanalisi
Anno: 2022
Pages: 268
ISBN: 978-88-97479-36-9
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Enactment in
Psicoanalisi"
(Edizione Italiana)
A cura di Giuseppe Leo &
Giuseppe Riefolo
Scritti di: Galit Atlas Efrat
Ginot
Jay Greenberg Jessica
Kraus Giuseppe
Leo Giuseppe
Riefolo Jeremy Safran
Editore: Frenis Zero
Collana: Confini della Psicoanalisi
Anno: 2022
Pages: 320
ISBN: 978-88-97479-34-5
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Blown Lives. A Tale
for Spielrein, Gross, Tausk and the other losers of
psychoanalysis" by Giuseppe Leo
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-97479-32-1
Anno/Year: 2021
Pages: 284
Click here to buy the
book/Compra su Amazon
"My Ideas Felt Like
Outsize Clothes. A tale for Etty Hillesum" (Second Edition)
by Giuseppe Leo
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-97479-28-4
Anno/Year: 2021
Pages: 128
Click here to buy the
book/Compra su Amazon
"Infant
Research and Psychoanalysis" (Third Edition) edited by
Giuseppe Leo
"
Edited by Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: B.
Beebe K. Lyons-Ruth J. P. Nahum D.
Schechter E. Solheim C.
Trevarthen E. Z.
Tronick
L. Vulliez-Coady
Publisher: Frenis Zero
Collection: Borders of Psychoanalysis
Year: 2021
Pages: 285
ISBN: 978-88-97479-24-6
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Psychanalyse,
Lieux de Mémoire et Traumatismes Collectifs" (Third Edition) edited
by Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: J.
Altounian, S. Amati Sas, W. Bohleber, M. El Husseini, R. El Khayat, Y.
Gampel R. Kaės, J. Kristeva, G. Leo, A. Loncan, P. Matvejević, M.-R.
Moro, S. Resnik, S. Varvin
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-97479-22-2
Anno/Year: 2021
Pages: 546
Click
here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Enactment
in Psychoanalysis" - Second Edition) edited by Giuseppe Leo
& Giuseppe Riefolo
Edited by Giuseppe Leo &
Giuseppe Riefolo
Writings by: G. Atlas
E. Ginot J.R. Greenberg J.
Kraus J.D. Safran
Publisher: Frenis Zero
Collection: Borders of Psychoanalysis
Year: 2020
Pages: 333
ISBN: 978-88-97479-19-2
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"My Ideas Felt Like
Outsize Clothes. A tale for Etty Hillesum" by Giuseppe Leo
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-97479-33-8
Anno/Year: 2020
Pages: 122
Click
here to order the book/Ordina
su Lulu
"Environmental
Crisis and Pandemic. A Challenge for Psychoanalysis" edited
by Giuseppe Leo (Second Edition)
Writings by: H.
Catz, A.
Ferruta,
M. Francesconi, P. R. Goisis, R. D. Hinshelwood, G. Leo, N.
McWilliams, G. Riefolo, M.
Roth, C. Schinaia, D. Scotto
Di Fasano, R. D. Stolorow
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-97479-37-6
Anno/Year: 2020
Pages: 312
Click
here to order the book/Ordina
su Lulu
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Psychanalyse,
Lieux de Mémoire et Traumatismes Collectifs" sous la direction
de Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: J.
Altounian, S. Amati Sas, W. Bohleber, M. El Husseini, R. El Khayat, Y.
Gampel R. Kaės, J. Kristeva, G. Leo, A. Loncan, P. Matvejević, M.-R.
Moro
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-97479-29-1
Anno/Year: 2020
Pages: 482
Click
here to order the book/Ordina
su Lulu
"Fear
of Lockdown. Psychoanalysis, Pandemic Discontents and Climate
Change" edited by Giuseppe
Leo
Writings by: H.
Catz, A.
Ferruta,
M. Francesconi, P. R. Goisis, G.
Leo, N. McWilliams, G.
Riefolo, M. Roth, C.
Schinaia, D. Scotto Di Fasano
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-97479-21-5
Anno/Year: 2020
Pages: 295
Click
here to order the book/Ordina
su Lulu
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Rock Music & Psychoanalysis"
Second Edition
Edited
by: Giuseppe Leo
Authored
by/autori: Lewis
Aron Heather
Ferguson Joseph LeDoux Giuseppe Leo John
Shaw Rod Tweedy
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis Zero
Collection/Collana: Borders
of Psychoanalysis
Anno/Year: 2020
Pagine/Pages: 221
ISBN:978-88-97479-35-2
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here to buy the book/Compra su Amazon
"Essere nella cura"
Authored
by/autori: Giacomo
Di Marco & Isabella
Schiappadori
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis Zero
Collection/Collana: Confini
della Psicoanalisi
Anno/Year: 2019
Pagine/Pages: 210
ISBN:978-88-97479-17-8
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here to order the book
"Enactment
in Psychoanalysis"
Edited by Giuseppe Leo &
Giuseppe Riefolo
Writings by: E.
Ginot J.R. Greenberg J. Kraus J.D. Safran
Publisher: Frenis Zero
Collection: Borders of Psychoanalysis
Year: 2019
Pages: 326
ISBN: 978-88-97479-15-4
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here to order the book
"Infant Research and Psychoanalysis"
Edited by Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: B.
Beebe K. Lyons-Ruth J. P. Nahum E. Solheim C.
Trevarthen E. Z. Tronick L.
Vulliez-Coady
Publisher: Frenis Zero
Collection: Borders of Psychoanalysis
Year: 2018
Pages: 273
ISBN: 978-88-97479-14-7
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here to order the book
"Fundamentalism
and Psychoanalysis"
Edited by Giuseppe Leo
Prefaced by: Vamik D. Volkan
Writings by: L.
Auestad W. Bohleber S. Varvin
L. West
Publisher: Frenis Zero
Collection: Mediterranean Id-entities
Year: 2017
Pages: 214
ISBN: 978-88-97479-13-0
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here to order the book
"Psicoanalisi,
luoghi della resilienza ed immigrazione"
Edited
by/a cura di: Giuseppe Leo
Writings by/scritti
di:
S. Arałjo Cabral, L.
Curone,
M. Francesconi,
L.
Frattini,
S. Impagliazzo, D. Centenaro Levandowski, G. Magnani, M. Manetti, C.
Marangio, G.
A. Marra e Rosa, M.
Martelli,
M. R. Moro, R. K. Papadopoulos,
A. Pellicciari,
G. Rigon,
D. Scotto di Fasano, E. Zini, A. Zunino
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis Zero
Collection/Collana: Mediterranean
Id-entities
Anno/Year: 2017
Pagine/Pages: 372
ISBN:978-88-97479-11-6
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here to order the book
"Psicoanalisi
in Terra Santa"
Edited
by/a cura di: Ambra Cusin & Giuseppe Leo
Prefaced by/prefazione
di:
Anna Sabatini Scalmati
Writings by/scritti
di:
H. Abramovitch A. Cusin M.
Dwairy A. Lotem M.
Mansur M. P. Salatiello Afterword
by/ Postfazione
di:
Ch. U.
Schminck-Gustavus
Notes by/ Note di: Nader Akkad
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis Zero
Collection/Collana: Mediterranean
Id-entities
Anno/Year: 2017
Pagine/Pages: 170
ISBN:978-88-97479-12-3
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here to buy the book
"Essere
bambini a Gaza. Il trauma infinito"
Authored
by/autore: Maria
Patrizia
Salatiello
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis Zero
Collection/Collana: Mediterranean
Id-entities
Anno/Year: 2016
Pagine/Pages: 242
ISBN:978-88-97479-08-6
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here to buy the book
Psychoanalysis,
Collective Traumas and Memory Places (English Edition)
Edited
by/a cura di: Giuseppe Leo Prefaced by/prefazione
di:
R.D.Hinshelwood
Writings by/scritti di: J.
Altounian W.
Bohleber J.
Deutsch
H. Halberstadt-Freud Y.
Gampel
N. Janigro R.K.
Papadopoulos
M. Ritter S. Varvin H.-J. Wirth
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis Zero
Collection/Collana: Mediterranean
Id-entities
Anno/Year: 2015
Pagine/Pages: 330
ISBN:978-88-97479-09-3
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here to buy the book
"L'uomo dietro al lettino" di Gabriele Cassullodi Gabriele Cassullodi Gabriele Cassullo
Prefaced by/prefazione di: Jeremy
Holmes
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis Zero
Collection/Collana: Biografie
dell'Inconscio
Anno/Year: 2015
Pagine/Pages: 350
ISBN:978-88-97479-07-9
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"Neuroscience
and Psychoanalysis" (English Edition)
Edited by/a cura di: Giuseppe Leo
Prefaced by/prefazione di:
Georg Northoff
Writings by/scritti di: D.
Mann A. N. Schore R.
Stickgold
B.A. Van Der
Kolk
G. Vaslamatzis M.P. Walker
Editore/Publisher:
Edizioni Frenis Zero
Collection/Collana: Psicoanalisi e
neuroscienze
Anno/Year: 2014
Pagine/Pages: 300
ISBN:978-88-97479-06-2
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here to order the book
Vera
Schmidt, "Scritti su psicoanalisi infantile ed educazione"
Edited by/a cura di: Giuseppe
Leo
Prefaced by/prefazione di:
Alberto
Angelini
Introduced by/introduzione di:
Vlasta
Polojaz
Afterword by/post-fazione di: Rita
Corsa
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Collana: Biografie dell'Inconscio
Anno/Year: 2014
Pagine/Pages: 248
ISBN:978-88-97479-05-5
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here to order the book
Resnik,
S. et al. (a cura di Monica Ferri), "L'ascolto dei sensi e dei
luoghi nella relazione terapeutica"
Writings by:A.
Ambrosini, A. Bimbi, M.
Ferri,
G. Gabbriellini, A. Luperini, S.
Resnik,
S. Rodighiero, R. Tancredi, A. Taquini
Resnik, G. Trippi
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Collana: Confini della Psicoanalisi
Anno/Year: 2013
Pagine/Pages: 156
ISBN:978-88-97479-04-8
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here to order the book
Silvio
G. Cusin, "Sessualitą e conoscenza"
A cura di/Edited by: A. Cusin
& G. Leo
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Collana/Collection: Biografie
dell'Inconscio
Anno/Year: 2013
Pagine/Pages: 476
ISBN: 978-88-97479-03-1
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here to order the book
AA.VV.,
"Psicoanalisi e luoghi della riabilitazione", a cura di G. Leo e G.
Riefolo (Editors)
A cura di/Edited by: G. Leo
& G. Riefolo
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Collana/Collection: Id-entitą
mediterranee
Anno/Year: 2013
Pagine/Pages: 426
ISBN: 978-88-903710-9-7
Prezzo/Price:
€ 39,00
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here to order the book
AA.VV.,
"Scrittura e memoria", a cura di R. Bolletti (Editor)
Writings by: J. Altounian, S. Amati Sas, A. Arslan,
R. Bolletti, P. De Silvestris, M. Morello, A. Sabatini Scalmati.
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Collana: Cordoglio e pregiudizio
Anno/Year: 2012
Pagine/Pages: 136
ISBN: 978-88-903710-7-3
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here to order the book
AA.VV.,
"Lo
spazio velato. Femminile e
discorso
psicoanalitico"
a cura di G. Leo e L. Montani (Editors)
Writings by: A. Cusin, J. Kristeva, A. Loncan, S.
Marino, B. Massimilla, L. Montani, A. Nunziante Cesaro, S. Parrello, M.
Sommantico, G. Stanziano, L. Tarantini, A. Zurolo.
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Collana: Confini della psicoanalisi
Anno/Year: 2012
Pagine/Pages: 382
ISBN: 978-88-903710-6-6
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here to order the book
AA.VV., Psychoanalysis and its Borders, a cura di G. Leo (Editor)
Writings by: J.
Altounian, P. Fonagy, G.O. Gabbard, J.S. Grotstein, R.D. Hinshelwood,
J.P. Jimenez, O.F. Kernberg, S. Resnik.
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Collana/Collection: Borders of
Psychoanalysis
Anno/Year: 2012
Pagine/Pages: 348
ISBN: 978-88-974790-2-4
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here to order the book
AA.VV.,
"Psicoanalisi e luoghi della negazione", a cura di A. Cusin e G. Leo
Writings by:J.
Altounian, S. Amati Sas, M. e M. Avakian, W. A.
Cusin, N. Janigro, G. Leo, B. E. Litowitz, S. Resnik, A.
Sabatini Scalmati, G. Schneider, M. Šebek,
F. Sironi, L. Tarantini.
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Collana/Collection: Id-entitą
mediterranee
Anno/Year: 2011
Pagine/Pages: 400
ISBN: 978-88-903710-4-2
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here to order the book
"The
Voyage Out" by Virginia Woolf
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-97479-01-7
Anno/Year: 2011
Pages: 672
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here to order the book
"Psicologia
dell'antisemitismo" di Imre Hermann
Author:Imre Hermann
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
ISBN: 978-88-903710-3-5
Anno/Year: 2011
Pages: 158
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here to order the book
"Vite
soffiate. I vinti della psicoanalisi" di
Giuseppe Leo
Editore/Publisher: Edizioni Frenis
Zero
Edizione: 2a
ISBN: 978-88-903710-5-9
Anno/Year: 2011
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here to order the book
"La Psicoanalisi
e i suoi confini" edited by Giuseppe Leo
Writings by: J. Altounian, P. Fonagy, G.O. Gabbard, J.S. Grotstein,
R.D. Hinshelwood, J.P. Jiménez, O.F. Kernberg, S. Resnik
Editore/Publisher: Astrolabio
Ubaldini
ISBN: 978-88-340155-7-5
Anno/Year: 2009
Pages: 224
Prezzo/Price: € 20,00
"La
Psicoanalisi. Intrecci Paesaggi Confini"
Edited by S. Fizzarotti Selvaggi, G.Leo.
Writings by: Salomon Resnik, Mauro Mancia,
Andreas Giannakoulas, Mario Rossi Monti, Santa Fizzarotti Selvaggi,
Giuseppe Leo.
Publisher: Schena Editore
ISBN 88-8229-567-2
Price: € 15,00
Click
here to order the book
|
Every morning I wake up in fear and start the day with a short look at
the Ukrainian news feed on the Internet for more than 700 days.
Since the beginning of March 2022, I have been living and working in a
peaceful country, but the tension of global adaptation in a new place
and the incessant shelling and bombing of my country does not diminish,
I have to live and process experiences I have never encountered,
understand them, accept them and move forward in the new reality in
small steps.
The war inside without stopping or regretting, or the need to cope with
unbearable emotions and experiences, is a central theme for many
Ukrainians. Through news channels, stories and games of patients,
connections with relatives and colleagues who remain living in Ukraine,
the process of identification takes place. The memory of experiencing
the explosions in the neighbourhood is recalled over and over again in
mental memory or dreams.
One of the patient's last dreams: ‘I accidentally find myself in a
place where I see a large crowd of Ukrainian soldiers holding grenades
under the school desks. I realise that I need to leave this place
urgently, because an enemy missile may come there. I manage to distance
myself and write a letter or a receipt for permission to leave the
danger zone.’
In the dream, the patient again experiences the feeling of animal fear
when your home was destroyed in reality and your mental home was also
destroyed or damaged. Proximity with psychic trauma is associated with
soldiers hiding in a place intended for children. Intrusion, the
penetration of dangerous feelings into a protected space, leads to a
breakdown in communication.
The psyche tries to relive the trauma and integrate the already symbolic experience, restoring the course of events.
Who am I fighting with inside me every day?
Uncertainty and insecurity about the future, violation of the
most basic guidelines of life have set back mental functioning: a sense
of failure, lack of vitality, heightened sensitivity, poor memory and
insomnia are the main symptoms described by victims of war. In the
words of many Ukrainians - ‘we never thought it was possible to hate so
much’ - I recognise myself. The experience of hatred for the enemy, who
broke in and levelled all your supports to the ground, destroyed your
hopes and happy, normal life, is a red thread in your daily routine.
The pain of the lost paradise has become chronic. A peaceful life
becomes associated with a heavenly and unattainable time, where there
is predictability, relaxation and happiness without guilt.
The war is associated with your own powerlessness, with accepting a new
reality every day, waking up in a foreign and unfamiliar world. The
most difficult thing is to experience the grief of loss, that the good
past is gone, and the new one still needs to be built, to work hard,
solving multi-level tasks every day. It's scary to break down, and
sometimes the fear of losing your own mind can become threatening.
The second question is how to balance in the new realities, how to
survive mentally? To be resilient in the face of new challenges and
constant change, to withstand stress after very bad news?
An overloaded nervous system needs discharge or to be welcomed by
a mental space from other people, acceptance, empathy and processing,
it is impossible to be alone and isolated, it is impossible to be in a
manic radical state all the time, because then it changes to the
opposite.
In chaos, it always works well to build a system, schedule and plan every day, week, month.
When I attend language courses, I notice how refugees consistently
attend classes, complete assignments and successfully move from one
level to another, not all of them, but most. A familiar learning space,
a circle of friends, and a stable time help to organise the day and
start integrating in a new country. We often hear the question: why
start integration, didn't we want to move?
But there are no answers and no choice - either to return to the
country at war or to try to build a life in a new country from the very
beginning. Bitterness, stress, insomnia, and depression are visible on
the faces of refugees, as they clench their jaws and continue to
mechanically go about their business, to survive.
War is a seemingly endless storm, an endless struggle with oneself,
which begins to turn into a chronic state of partial fatigue, humility
and closure from unbearable pain... more explosions, more dead,
beautiful bright faces, you lose count and do not know where to get
more strength or tears, a new dimension of pain that you have never
experienced before.
The psyche survives between fluctuations from complete despair to a
state of confidence and a sense of fullness of life, a favourite
hackneyed phrase ‘here and now’. So this is what this ‘here and now’ is
like. We all became a little philosophical when faced with the
experience of a great war.
I recently remembered how, as a child, I used to make rowan necklaces
by stringing one berry on top of another. Thinking tries to connect, to
glue experience together, there is a need and a need to heal spiritual
wounds, to remember and have the strength to remember in order to face
the future. We have the strength to be reborn. Trauma breaks the
connection. War has destroyed ties and broken attachments. I see how
many refugees are ready to make a complete abandonment of their
country, as a confirmation of Freud's idea in the story ‘Transience’:
‘It should not surprise us that our libido, thus deprived of so many of
its objects, should cling more and more strongly to what we have left;
that our love for our country, our affection for our loved ones, and
our pride in what is distinctive about us should suddenly be
intensified. But the other things that we have now lost, have they
become any less valuable to us because they have been exposed as
vulnerable and fragile? For many people, perhaps so, but in my opinion,
this is a mistake. I believe that those who think this way and are
ready to make a complete rejection because what they hold dear has
proved to be short-lived are simply grieving for what they have lost.
As you know, grief, no matter how deep and painful, must eventually
pass. When the grieving person forgets about all their losses, then
they will absorb themselves, and our libido will again be free (as long
as we are still young and active) to replace the lost objects with new
ones of equal or even greater value. Hopefully, the same will happen
with the losses caused by the war. When the grief is over one day, we
will discover that our appreciation of the achievements of civilisation
has not lost anything from seeing their fragility. We will rebuild
everything that the war has destroyed, and perhaps on a more stable
foundation, and more solid and durable than before.’
Now it's all about expanding our capacity to love, to continue to trust
and believe, to build new bridges and to search for meaning. The
identities that developed before the war give great meaning and
strength, and by overlooking so much human suffering, including their
own, open up a field for research.
The question of interest is: is psychotherapy possible in times
of war? Is it possible to have a stable, long-term therapeutic
relationship, therapeutic contact, or rather the conditions for a
connection between the two?
The therapist must understand the state of his or her psyche at the
moment of meeting with the patient, he or she must feel alive, in touch
with themselves, with their thinking, in order to be able to do things
for the patient. To be able to associate freely, to play.
War is a shock, but like any other powerful event in a person's life. I
believe that the ability to recover and adequately understand one's
limitations in working with a patient during a particular period of
therapy, discussing difficulties with colleagues, supervisors, in
personal psychoanalysis and psychotherapy help to cope with a number of
problems and difficulties that arise in practice.
I would like to share a clinical illustration of a fragment of child
therapy during the war to show the connection between the preservation
and development of the child's psyche in the therapeutic and
child-parent relationship.
The mother and two children, the grandmother went abroad, the father
and grandfather stayed in Ukraine. Before the war, the child was
brought to the office face-to-face by his mother and father in turn.
Now we have been working online, with the same set-up of 2 appointments
per week and 1 parental meeting per month for two and a half years.
Sofia had difficulties expressing her feelings after the birth of her
sister and had emotional delays, her relationship with her mother was
symbiotic, she was a closed child who kept all her feelings inside and
was not familiar with them, intellectually developed, with good
intelligible speech, she had neurotic symptoms such as childhood
masturbation and nocturnal enuresis. Her mother had left for work early
when she was 1 year old, and she was often sick after that, staying at
home with her grandmother, who was diagnosed with depression. I saw her
image as doll-like and lifeless, she couldn't play role-playing games
spontaneously, was afraid of me, and resembled a child who was full of
projections and anxieties of the adults around her. After starting
therapy, Sofia showed affection for me, as if she had hope, and the
therapy was to continue after the war started in the shortest possible
time. Sofia never mentioned her move away from home and could not be
sad or upset about her father, as if these feelings did not exist in
her. Sometimes I was desperate and futile to do anything to help
and did not understand why we were meeting. What is the point of
therapy?
Now I tend to think that my constant presence and offer of live
contact, ‘me’ in the sessions, attention and a lively separate view of
her and her development, the developmental problem we talked about so
much with her parents, gradually began to take the child out of
‘autism’, false self, and helped to unlock her inanimate parts. The
girl's favourite character is the Elsa doll from the Frozen cartoon, as
through this story you can feel the transition from inanimate to
feeling pain and various emotions that fill relationships between
people, which means that life can now take on colours, shades and
meaning. Role-playing games with the plot of the excluded third, the
murder of female dolls, etc. appeared. The girl's mother began her own
personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy with another therapist. In real
life, Sofia became close friends with her little sister, inviting her
to play with other children on playgrounds in the new country,
protecting and sharing. She was able to adapt in kindergarten, then at
school, in the first grade, and learn a new language. We continue to
work because the topic of grieving or experiencing loss never occurs,
when she says goodbye to me, she feels nothing and does it
automatically, because there is still no break or ending in her mind.
After a long time of separation, the parents make the important
decision to divorce, but with the desire to keep the therapy for the
child and continue parental meetings with me as their daughter's
therapist. Nothing changes in the setting, but now Sofia is confronted
with the experiences of her parents' divorce, with what she has tried
so hard to keep hidden inside her.
Her entire psychic life is concentrated in the vortex of trauma, which
she sees as a possibility to go beyond after the destruction and
discovery of the object (D.W. Winnicott), i.e. the separation of the
self and the outside world.
The war has destroyed lives to the ground, but over the past two years
it has become clear that the stability of a therapeutic relationship
provides a safe mental home and a chance to restore patients' mental
life and as a support for building their real life. Therapy helps to
work out not only basic internal, age-related conflicts, but also acts
as a container for discharging strong affective states, mental tension
and promoting gradual adaptation to new living conditions, and
identification. Internal connection with good objects helps to build
new connections with reality. Working through grief and loss stimulates
separation and a sense of being free and independent in choices today.
War events, loss of home and loved ones are experienced in groups with
people with similar suffering, whether it is family or any other
groups, also through symbolism, which is reflected in contemporary
poetry, art, music, etc. The fine line between life and death is felt
especially acutely as every day is now a gift. The intensity of hatred
can be replaced by gratitude and quiet joy. An ordinary autumn or a
simple meeting with a friend is a tremendous event, a small memorable
story.
After the first year of the war and the end of the children's and adult
group where I was a leader, an exhibition of drawings by Ukrainian
refugees was opened. The drawings conveyed the pain of loss and
impressions of the war events. The main desire was to preserve Ukraine,
the memory of their home as a reminder of resources and inner strength,
a connection with the roots as sources of psychic life. The desire to
restore continuity and the fantasy of healing the trauma of generations
(transgenerational transmission of trauma).
You can now view several works from this exhibition and photos of the participants (Austria, Klagenfurt, December 2022):
«Lost Hope. The Beginning»
«The Cat from Kherson» girl, 16 years old
«Lonely girl with a cat» Lubov, 8 years old Odessa
«Horrors of war»
«Ukraine is my home»
The time of contrasts
Another
important topic that I would like to highlight is the experience of
time and the discontinuity of psychic matter (the consequences of war
trauma and the sense of time during war events), if we imagine
the psychic world as a continuous tape of time.
If we understand
the present accurately, we can predict the future (Heisenberg. 1985).
We look for support and security as a starting point for working and
living in troubled times. The ability to stay together by gathering as
a group, creating a common field for reflection and processing of
events and painful feelings is a way out of paranoid thinking.
Predicting
the future, we understand that the main goal of the study has been
achieved - the psyche of children and therapists can adapt to war and
refugee conditions within the framework of psychoanalytic techniques.
Splitting helps to preserve healthy parts and evacuate unbearable ones.
In the conditions of constant instability and change, terrible losses,
confusion, we and our patients are looking for a psychic refuge, a
transitional space for development, new ways and forms of thinking and
content for survival: playing literally under the bombing and
metaphorically with horrific themes and memories, impressions of the
present. The painful reality collides with the experience of many
questions and incompatibility of external and mental perception.
Growing up quickly outside of time is like a cancellation of psychic
time, space and trauma in a way that leads to a delay in the child's
development and requires conditions for creating a safe environment
again, accepting, content to have relationships to process complex
reality. So today we have hope that we can do it.
Thank you for
your attention and I would like to express my deep gratitude to my
colleagues from the Ukrainian research group of child psychotherapists
‘Playing Under Fire’ led by Hanna Kravtsova, with the support of
Margaret Rustin, my Italian colleagues and good friend Paola Solano,
Michele Vargiu and Valentina Palvarini, my colleagues from Austria,
psychoanalyst Alex Parte and his family, and Klaus Ottomayer,
professor, social psychologist and founder of the Aspis project for war
refugees.
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