Dreams and anorexia: poetics of revelation in adolescent patients

Journal title PSICOTERAPIA PSICOANALITICA
Author/s Maria Antonietta Fenu
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2026/1
Language Italian Pages 15 P. 99-113 File size 83 KB
DOI 10.3280/PSP2026-001006
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The author cites the technique of Erasures, by conceptual artist Emilio Isgrò, to outline the expressive journey of dreams in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, specifically with adolescent patients. Based on Isgrò’ s erasures, only a single sentence or word from the page of the text remains legible, so that the saved word ignites a structural meaning in the reader’s mind. Dream narration follows a similar path during psychotherapy: some fragments are saved, and in turn are divided between the imaginary and symbolic registers, conveying meanings that find their meaning in psychoanalytic listening. The exercise of dream narration thus takes on a mirror function, fostering in adolescents the processes that Raymond Cahn calls: Subjectualization and Subjectivation. Finally, the author presents the reader with the entire dream material, from the first to the last, shared in the treatment of an anorexic girl. One can then appreciate how the dream discourse takes the form of a unified narrative that admirably summarizes the inner story. Thanks to the rêverie shared in sessions, and without resorting to closed interpretations, the psychoanalytic couple reaches profound levels, even the preverbal, giving free rein to the poetic dimension of inner revelation.

Keywords: Isgrò’s erasure, dreamwork, reverie, subjectivation, poetic revelation.

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Maria Antonietta Fenu, Sogno e anoressia: poetiche di svelamento nel paziente adolescente in "PSICOTERAPIA PSICOANALITICA" 1/2026, pp 99-113, DOI: 10.3280/PSP2026-001006