"No retreat, no surrender". La dimensione temporale dei conflitti psichici e sociali

"No retreat, no surrender". The temporal dimension in psychic and social conflicts, by Giuseppe Fiorentini, Giovanni Foresti The authors hypothesize the existence of an interrelation between the predominant experience of time and certain psychic disorders that are discernible on an individual and social level. The disorganization of one’s life chronology is seen as a consequence of the great cultural changes that took place in the 1970s and ’80s. In turn, these changes are the consequence of more moderate changes that have taken place in family relations and in the social structure. On an individual level, this has brought about an epidemic of narcissistic personality disorders that are expressed as psychopathological manifestations that were non-existent or infrequent in the past (food-related disorders, antisocial behavior, widespread old and new pathological appetence and addiction to narcotics). On the other hand, in the sphere of institutional dynamics, there is an increase in the explicit and/or implicit adversarial nature (according to Bion’s model: attack-and-flee or passive dependence) that coexists along with the failure of conflicts both structural and structuring between classes and generations. This point is discussed through two clinical examples. The first is drawn from individual psychoanalytic treatment and the second from supervision on a team at a Therapeutic Community, which was held to ransom by a severely borderline patient.

Keywords: Experience of time, the grieving process, narcissism, counter-dependency, greed, depression.

Giuseppe Fiorentini, Giovanni Foresti, "No retreat, no surrender". La dimensione temporale dei conflitti psichici e sociali in "GRUPPI" 2/2009, pp 69-82, DOI: 10.3280/GRU2009-002008