Diagnosis in relational psychoanalysis: a unified perspective.

Journal title RICERCA PSICOANALITICA
Author/s Massimo Fontana
Publishing Year 2012 Issue 2012/2 Language Italian
Pages 27 P. 73-99 File size 677 KB
DOI 10.3280/RPR2012-002006
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In this paper the author discusses the theoretical, methodological and clinical aspect that make a careful analysis of diagnosis necessary in relational psychoanalysis and focuses on its special use in treatment. In the first part of the paper, after considering the recent work of Albasi, Lingiardi, Shedler and Westen, the author stresses the specificity of psychological diagnosis aimed at seeing the features and psychological distress of patients as a whole, rather than just identifying one or more pathologies, as medical diagnosis does, stressing also the importance of all the knowledge dimensions required for a proper diagnostic process, from the nosographic (nomothetic) dimension, to case formulation (idiographic dimension) to the relational (implicit) dimension. The basic tenet of this paper is that the epistemic assumptions of the relational model, the theory of systems and the paradigm of complexity, allow for a unified view of personality, seen as a consistent system capable of self-organization within its social system.

Keywords: Diagnosis, case formulation, relational psychoanalysis, multiplicity, dissociation, self

Massimo Fontana, La diagnosi in psicoanalisi relazionale: una prospettiva unitaria in "RICERCA PSICOANALITICA" 2/2012, pp 73-99, DOI: 10.3280/RPR2012-002006