The Contemporaneity of the Unconscious: Interviews with John Gale, Cristiana Cimino, Sergio Benvenuto and Vittorio Lingiardi
The interest in the unconscious aspects of psychic life goes back a long way. However, it is with Freud and psychoanalytic theory that a real overturning of the conception of man’s psychic functioning and the treatment of the mental takes place. Since then, various disciplines have had to come to terms with this necessary construct for both the clinic and theory. In the contemporary fields of psychology, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis different conceptualizations and models of the unconscious are identifiable which often differ with respect to languages, description levels and disciplines. Otherwise, for empirical psychology and neuroscience the concept of the unconscious seems to blur into the biological activity of the brain, memory functions and cognitive processes that operate below the threshold of attention. A confrontation of different voices on the “nature” of the unconscious could be a convenient tool both for future psychotherapists and psychoanalysts who find themselves having to choose a training pathway, and for the scientific community.
Therefore, we developed a questionnaire which aim to address some of these different conceptualizations. We asked different scholars to answer to this questionnaire. In this paper we present the first answers we collected. The questionnaire is available at this link: https://forms.gle/tpv84bt7m53BBBTW7. We hope that anyone interested in contributing to the development of this section feel free to respond to our questionnaire and join the debate.
Bios:
Leonardo Provini is a psychologist, psychotherapist, and PhD student at the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, of Sapienza University of Rome. He’s co-editor of the Italian side of the European Journal of Psychoanalysis.
Massimiliano Pompa is a psychologist and a PhD student at the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, of Sapienza University of Rome. He’s co-editor of the Italian side of the European Journal of psychoanalysis. His field of research and interests are History of psychology, History of psychotherapy, History of psychoanalysis, University counselling and Animal Magnetism.
Silvia Monaco is a PhD Student at the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, of Sapienza University of Rome. Her fields of interest are Health Psychology and Clinical and Dynamic Psychology. She is collaborating with the High Institution for organ donation and transplant in Italy, the “Centro Nazionale Trapianti”. She published articles in different fields, such as the psychological impact of COVID-19, the analysis of dreams, burnout and quality of life in different kinds of workers, and the relationship with the patient in medical settings.
Riccardo Williams, PhD, is a psychologist, Professor of Dynamic Psychology at Faculty of Medicine and Psychology Sapienza – University of Rome; Associate Member of the International Psychoanalytic Association; Director of the Centro for Assessment and Psychotherapy of the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies; President of the Master Degree in Clinical Psychosexology – Sapienza Università of Rome.
Publication Date:
December 9, 2022
