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Hope in the time of Covid can be a difficult thing to find. In his latest book, One Life Heals Another, Dr. Franco Borgogno reminds us that hope is found in relationship. Only in relationship with both ourselves and others can pain and suffering be borne and meaning found. Hope enables us to continue attempting to reach each other and to endure the pain of finding meaning.
In his memoir, Borgogno tells us of his life and his progression towards becoming a psychoanalyst. The memoir reflects his personal search for truth and understanding. His path, while uniquely his own, reminds us of ours. In his writing, Borgogno opens himself to us, much as I imagine he opens himself to his patients and his students. In doing so, he invites us to experience with him those conscious and unconscious processes that enrich his life, changing him and changing those he meets.
Borgogno’s writing displays a passionate involvement with analytic work and with the people on both sides of the couch. He shows us how beneath the sorrow and the joy of life, our humanity anchors us profoundly to one another. In that anchoring connection, we grow. He brings us into his experiences with his supervisors, his colleagues, and his patients. In addition, the experience of reading One Life Heals Another alters us as readers in much the same way that sincerely engaging with another life in our consultation rooms transforms us.
Dr. Borgogno invites us into the paradoxes. Paradox promotes process and process is by definition a movement. One paradox in psychoanalysis is that in order to engage in becoming a psychoanalyst, one must study long and hard. And then, in order to be an analyst, one must put theory aside and be an open and authentic human being. Borgogno demonstrates both being an authentic human being and being a person dedicated to growth. Such dedication implies a paradoxical process of being a psychoanalyst while forever becoming one.
Dr Borgogno studies and thinks about his work and the theories t