“I came here not to change”. Freelance psychotherapy in the age of distrust

Journal title RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA
Author/s Luca Nicoli, Elena Morganti
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2024/1
Language Italian Pages 13 P. 81-93 File size 807 KB
DOI 10.3280/RSF2024-001006
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The article discusses the problems due to the population’s increasing access to treatment from private psychotherapy services. There is evidence of a narcissistic climate in modern society, with a weakening of object relations. Trust in institutions and the propensity to rely on health care figures have declined. The article emphasizes the complexity in dealing with patients’ mistrust of psychotherapy and the importance of adapting modes of approach, setting construction and therapeutic alliance. The need to share the diagnostic pathway and therapeutic plan with the patient is also highlighted. Distrust of commitment is reflected in the demand for unfettered relationships, complicating the construction of the therapeutic setting. The Authors stress the importance of working on therapeutic intimacy, addressing patients’ resistance to change without being touched. Finally, they discuss the need to dose emotional truth according to the patient’s capacity for acceptance, considering the importance of meeting the patient where he or she is, even if this initially involves unusual positions.

Keywords: narcissism, object relationship, intimacy, setting, analytic field, ontological psychoanalysis.

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Luca Nicoli, Elena Morganti, “Sono venuto qui per non cambiare”. La psicoterapia libero professionale nell’epoca della diffidenza in "RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA" 1/2024, pp 81-93, DOI: 10.3280/RSF2024-001006