Book Notices

Bonfiglio, B. (2000). Uno psicoanalista al “Servizio”. Psicoanalisi nei Centri di Salute Mentale [A Psychoanalyst at the “Service”. Psychoanalysis in Mental Health Services]. Roma:  Borla. Pp.  223.

Written in non-technical language, this book is based on the author's supervisory experience in public Mental Health Services. His psychoanalytic knowledge is put ‘at the service’ of those challenging aspects of mental suffering which patients cannot express through words. Ample evidence supports his view that the clinical understanding of the patient, of the staff's psychological dynamics, and of the functioning of the psychiatric institution itself is crucial to the success of the therapeutic intervention.

Botella, C. & Botella, S. (2001). La Figurabilite psychique [Psychic Representation]. Paris:  Delachaux et Niestlé. Pp.  261.

The authors report their analytic experiences with borderline and neurotic patients, as well as with children. They attempt to demonstrate the inadequacy of an analytic theory based entirely on a model of representation and they develop a broadened concept which has at its base their own understanding of hallucinations and of the work of representation as a means of access to unrepresentable areas specific to early trauma.

Cupelloni, P. (ed.) (2002). La ferita dello sguardo. Una ricerca psicoanalitica sulla melanconia [The Gaze's Wound. A Psychoanalytical Research on Melancholy]. Milan:  Angeli. Pp.  187.

This volume brings together the writings of ten Italian psychoanalysts involved in the study of melancholy. They differentiate it from depressive pathology, relating it instead to those primary phases of existence which are characterised by indifference, formlessness and confusion. Treatment should focus on the identity process and on the analysis of blind-spots not yet representable by the patient, going back to the original incompleteness of the mind.

Denis, P. (2001). Eloge de la bẽtise [In Praise of Stupidity]. Paris:  Presses Universitaires de France