GruppoAdozioni

The birth of the ability to narrate

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Abstract

I’m going to describe the appearance of an ability to narrate in the case of an adopted child with autistic traits. This capability has become possible, in my opinion, first of all following the late internal experience of the continuity of existence, closely linked to the experience of those sensory envelopes usually provided to infants by primary maternal care, which contribute to the construction of a body self. Despite her rejection of any kind of narrative, the adoptive parents have been able to tell her true story, accepted by her without any apparent problems. Within the psychotherapeutic relationship she could later recognize and process the Read more

ChagalFiaba

Presentation, The Ordering Function of Thought in Folktales

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Each of the articles in the volume relates to unique aspects regarding the affinity existing between fairy tales, or tales which share common characteristics with folktales, and the therapeutic process – either individual therapy, or a group workshop. Several articles in this issue deal with the ways in which fairy tales function in the therapeutic process.
The connecting thread of the articles is the use of the fairy tale as a “mediating object” in psychotherapy, as well as in educational situations: fairy tales convey profound topics, both in therapeutic and educational contexts and provide indirect access to these topics.  Lafforgue, citing Kaës, defines them as a “prêt-porter” for thinking, emphasizing their “ordering function”. Read more

ChagalFiaba

Archaic songs for preserving and transmitting the mystery of birth, love and time

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Abstract

Since the most remote times oral tradition has passed down linguistic-communicative materials that the adult uses for the caring relationship in the “nursery”: these pluri-semantic materials (consisting of sounds, rhythms, gestures, words, etc.) are structured in sequences that accompany the birth and evolution of the child’s mind, from the symbiotic relationship to the perception of duality and, finally, of the social environment.
These materials originate from and have their foundation in the mother’s experience regarding the birth and growth of the child. A sort of progressive catharsis accompanies the worried imagination with the sweet music of the lullabies, toward the more urgent rhythms of the games on an adult’s lap or on the changing table, to reach the veritable polyphonies of the first group games of the child.
The “ready to use” characteristic of this linguistic material and the thoughts contained in it make it memorizable, interesting and available for the child and the adult who enters into a relationship with him.
At the centre of interest and pleasure present in the preservation and use of the oral patrimony of the poetic production for early childhood, there Read more

GiorgioneFilosofi

Discovering the Inner World through Fairy-Tales

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Abstract

We present the clinical work, carried out by a team of therapists with autistic and psychotic children, within a Fairy-Tale Workshop. By becoming a container for projections, the fairy-tale, the mediating object of the group, helps provide a sense, a form to sensations-emotions that have not yet become thoughts, but which can later be named. It enabled and supported the emergence of symbolic thinking within the therapeutic group. A parallel group work allowed parents to get in touch with the children’s inner world, and to consider them no longer as a part of themselves, but as having their own life and potential resources to be Read more