In the psychoanalytic commentary on the clinical case the "Invisible Man", gambling is understood as a symptom derived from repeated failures in the primordial bonds, in particular, the failure to recognize oneself by the main figures (Bromberg, 2001). The primitive and omnipotent defenses of the "pathologic player" (Rosenthal, 1986) could, therefore, have originated in Giulio’s infancy, as an attempt to protect himself against pain and the consequent destructive rage. In psychotherapies with children who have experienced abandonment and lack of recognition, these defenses often occur through games that have lost their relational value. These games result to be repetitive, lonely, of maniacal quality and seem to somehow recalculate the characteristics of the pathological game, aiming to cut off the perceived bond the is experienced as too disappointing or dangerous. These defenses block the access to the depressive position (Klein, 1945), preventing the integration of divergent aspects of self and internal ties, and favoring the stabilization of omnipotent fantasies, which in the case of Giulio were channeled, precisely in adolescence, in the gamble game.
Keywords: Self-Recognition; Omnipotent Defense; Play; Depressive Position; Depression; Pathological Organization; Truth.