Fabio, who was Afraid of Thinking.: Considerations on Psychophobia, The Central Phobic Position and “Untamed Memories”

Some patients lead to terrae incognitae. In the analysis of psychophobic patients, we experience a paralysing lack of sense: it is not merely an “already happened” but something present in session. In the case examined, the analyst traversed, counter-transferentially, a condition presumably corresponding to that experienced by the patient. This state, which is only fully comprehensible a posteriori, bears analogies with the central phobic position, described by Green. By listening to the patient's latent discourse and applying the method, it was possible to grasp clues as to the meaning of the transference. The re-establishment of links between representations and affect, as well as intra-affect, made it possible to formulate hypotheses that were made available, in the form of interpretations, to the patient. He internalised them, creating his own version. The Freudian concept of “untamed memories” contributed to the metapsychological understanding of the case.

KEY WORDS: Untamed memories; psychophobia; central phobic position.