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

Dreaming the unthinkable, narrating the non-memory. Precursors of the fairytale as “mediating object” and as “shared dream” in the psychotherapeutic treatment of psychoses

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Abstract

In this paper the author confronts the problem of how to make communication possible in the psychotherapy of child psychoses, in cases where the symbolic capacity is seriously compromised or never structured, and the self is extremely vulnerable, without a sense of temporality, and imprisoned in a “circular time” that seems incapable of  articulations and resolutions. Through a brief clinical presentation, the idea is suggested of a “mediating object” – synthesis of the patient’s scanty and chaotic contribution and of the analyst’s reverie – on which to base a “transitional communication” that does not prematurely impose a separateness (implicit also in the interpretation) that the young psychotic patient cannot yet tolerate. A clinical vignette is then presented Read more

ChagalFiaba

Finding and hiding: Winnicott’s potential space and Raspberry Juice’s home

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Abstract

The paper discusses some analytical dynamics and terms as reflected in a Hebrew children tale, named “Raspberry Juice”. The tale deals with the question of closure and disclosure, with the need to be discovered as against the fear to be found, or in fact with the existential tension described by Winnicott in innumerable variations between the need to be understood and recognized and the fear to be completely understood or inadequately exposed. It also deals with the process of creating one’s identity, taking place within the potential space, enabling one’s mobility between “me” and  “not-me”, between imagination and reality, between the need to hide and the need to be discovered, and perhaps thereby – between the need to take part and the need to Read more

ChagalFiaba

Wandering through the dark forest: dreams and fairy tales in a group workshop

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Abstract

The paper touches upon the role that fairy tales play in a group therapy, as it works through processes relating to dream contents.  It exemplifies the way in which the interdisciplinary dialogue existing between group analysis and folklore research provides some interpretative options that would be unavailable unless one is familiar with the collective material existing in fairy tales. The example presented in the paper deals with the tale ‘Hansel and Gretel’, and demonstrates the way in which fairy tales are, in some cases, so integral to the shared cultural repertoire that it is almost impossible to deal with the dream narrative without relating its contents. The paper demonstrates the ways in which fairy tales and dreams might present a complementary or even compensatory dialogue, similarly to the way in which different voices in the group portray the outlines of conflicts and dynamics that the group will be occupied with in the phases to come. It is possible that this example Read more

ChagalFiaba

Back to “Cinderella”: fairytales in the Bibliotherapeutic Dialogue

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Abstract

Bibliotherapy is a therapeutic method in the field of Art therapy, which suggests focusing the therapeutic dialogue on a literary text, either written or read. This text functions within the therapeutic dialogue as a “third voice”, in addition to the voices of the patient and the therapist, and takes part in the dialogue as an autonomous Read more

ChagalFiaba

The fairy tale as a therapy tool: an experience with the multidisabled blind

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Abstract

This paper describes our clinical experience based on a fairy tale workshop carried out with a group of multidisabled blind children. It aims at showing how the huge communicational potential of the fairy tale can be helpful non only to the children taking part in the workshop but also to the team members involved. As a mediator of symbolization processes, the fairy tale appeals to the emotions that are not immediately accessible to thought and, thanks to its simple language, can reach the listeners’ inner world. In this perspective, the pleasure shared by the group members (both children and team members) becomes a precious ally for the establishment of a “narrative bond”: the fairy tale helps explaining also traumatic facts and events of life. In the situation reported Read more

ChagalFiaba

On the uses of the folk-tale in education

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Abstract

More than thirty years of work as a child psychiatrist and analyst and weekly meetings with the teachers of psychotic children in my care, have led me to reflect upon the process of learning to read and the apparent lack of interest in books and reading amongst certain social groups. It is clearly the case that our consumer society favours information in the form of quick, screen-based Read more

ChagalFiaba

The fairy tale as an observation instrument: the psychologist gets into the class

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Abstract

Bringing fairly tale  in the classroom, in a setting clearly discussed with the teacher providing for the reading of the text, the time of the conversation with children (including the proposal after each intervention to draw what has affected them more) , the defined time for discussion with the teacher present during the work, to  participate to what happened, allows us to do a deep observation of the dynamics pertaining to the group, particularly to identify children in need of listening, and reflect on  the typical style of the  Read more

ChagalFiaba

The Relationships between Incest and Hubris in Dreams, Myths and Folk Tales

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Abstract

In ancient myths, Hubris and Incest appear as the two archetypes, and are largely mentioned as the primary human sins in various cultures. It is in fact reasonable to assume that these two taboos constitute an ideological foundation, ground rules or moral axioms for the entire human civilizations. The many notations provided in the stories of creation, myths, works of art and legends, only serve to strengthen this hypothesis. Despite their numerous joint appearances and reciprocity, while attempting to understand their essence and basic importance, it seems that the affinity existing between them has not been stressed strongly enough. A dream told by a 33 year old man, married and a father to one child, demonstrates the special relationship existing between incest and hubris. The man came to treatment because he couldn’t hold on to a job and had a tendency to frequently change occupations. Having high ambitions of getting rich, he had the tendency to put enthusiastic efforts into dubious business schemes. They all eventually turned out to be totally unrealistic and caused him a great deal of disappointment, not to mention financial loss. He was in fact dependant on the support of his wife’s affluent 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