Prologue

Symbiosis, under that name, is a relatively new theme in psychology and psychopathology. However, there is no doubt that it has been included in very diverse ways in psychoanalytic writings, by different authors and on various topics, especially in studies referring to the earliest stages of personality development. The present publication is an attempt to take further the investigation of this question, which I consider of the greatest importance for a better understanding of problems in both normal psychology and psychopathology, and in individual psychology as well as in group, institutional and community psychology. Such is, in short, the range of fields and problems covered by the investigation of symbiosis.

However, even considering the precedents in the literature, it is not a matter of giving a new name to phenomena that are already familiar, but of re-situating them on the basis of a concept that comes closer to reality. Symbiosis places us fully, and from the outset of personality development, in the area of human interrelation, which then presents very particular features. Its study leads us to an understanding of other phenomena of adult life and its pathology, since it demands that we re-consider certain hypotheses and theories, as will become clear in reading the various chapters.

The study of symbiosis has also led me to another crucial point: the theme of ambiguity in normality, in pathology and in daily life. The bridge between these two themes, of symbiosis and ambiguity, is for me provided by the hypothesis that the nucleus, or the fundamental reason, for which the link or symbiotic interdependence is formed or persists, is by its very nature ambiguous. When I reached this latter conclusion, the study of ambiguity became unavoidable and I therefore had to re-consider concepts that were already in use, especially with reference to autism, primary narcissism, identification, etc.

Since the reader will be following the course of an investigation, I th