How can abuses of power be prevented, treated, and sanctioned in psychoanalysis? The proposal of the “fourth pillar” of psychoanalytic training

Journal title PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE
Author/s Giovanni Foresti
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/4
Language Italian Pages 7 P. 622-628 File size 271 KB
DOI 10.3280/PU2025-004003
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This intervention, which draws on Wynne Godley's article on his analysis with Masud Khan, published in the London Review of Books in 2001, reflects on the limitations of traditional psychoanalytic training and the need to address abuses of power with an approach that integrates prevention, treatment, and punishment. Drawing on experience gained in international psychoanalytic institutions, it emphasizes how professional solitude fosters abusive behavior and how self-idealization of training can reduce self-criticism. This is the context in which Stefano Bolognini in 2014 proposed the “fourth pillar”: an expansion of training to include group and institutional experiences, capable of consolidating analytic skills and strengthening the collective morality of the psychoanalytic community. Critical reflection and experimentation with these practices are encouraged.

Keywords: Psychoanalytic training; Abuse of power; “Fourth Pillar” of psychoanalytic training; Group experiences; Idealization of training analysis

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Giovanni Foresti, Come si possono prevenire, curare e sanzionare gli abusi di potere in psicoanalisi? La proposta del “quarto pilastro” del training in "PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE" 4/2025, pp 622-628, DOI: 10.3280/PU2025-004003