Family and Couple Psychoanalysis: An Italian Model

Journal title INTERAZIONI
Author/s Anna Maria Nicolò
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/2
Language Italian Pages 16 P. 13-28 File size 84 KB
DOI 10.3280/INT2025-002002
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

In this article, the author presents a model for understanding and intervening in clinical practice with families and couples. This model is based on specific assumptions: the continuous and reciprocal intertwining between the intrapsychic world of each individual family member and the phantasmal world of the family as a unit, the existence of link, the interpersonal unconscious, the use of inter- and transpersonal defences, the family as a matrix of identity and learning context, the multiplicity of coexisting levels in the family and couple, the specificity of technique, and the use of metaphor. The application of the model will be illustrated through the presentation of brief clinical cases.

Keywords: link, interpersonal unconscious, inter and transpersonal defences, technique, metaphor.

  1. Anzieu D. (1975). Il gruppo e l’inconscio. Roma: Borla, 1979.
  2. Bion W.R. (1962). Apprendere dall’esperienza. Roma: Armando, 1972.
  3. Eiguer A. (1983). Un divano per la famiglia. Roma: Borla, 1986.
  4. Emde R.N. (1989). L’esperienza relazionale nel bambino piccolo: aspetti evolutivi e affettivi. In Sameroff A.J., Emde R.N. (a cura di), I disturbi delle relazioni nella prima infanzia. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 1991.
  5. Ezriel H. (1968). Le rôle du transfert dans le traitement psychanalytique de groupe. In Schneider P.B. (sur la direction de), Pratique de la Psychothérapie de groupe, II. Paris: PUF.
  6. Freud S. (1922). L’Io e l’Es. OSF, vol. 9. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
  7. Kaës R. (1976). L’apparato pluripsichico dei gruppi. Roma: Armando, 1983.
  8. Kandel E.R. (1999). La biologia e il futuro della psicoanalisi: chiarimenti su “un nuovo contesto intellettuale per la psichiatria”. Richard e Piggle: Studi Psicoanalitici del Bambino e dell’Adolescente, 9, 1, 2001: 57-97.
  9. Losso R. (2000). Psicoanalisi della famiglia. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  10. Meltzer D., Harris M. (1986). Configurazioni familiari ed educabilità culturale. In Meltzer D., Studi di metapsicologia allargata. Applicazioni cliniche del pensiero di Bion. Milano: Raffaello Cortina, 1987.
  11. Nicolò A.M. (1988). La famiglia come matrice del pensiero. Terapia Familiare, 28: 5-16.
  12. Nicolò A.M. (1990). Soigner à l’intérieur de l’autre: Notes sur la dynamique entre l’individu et la famille. Cahiers Critique de Thérapie Familiale et de Pratique de Réseaux, 12: 29-51.
  13. Nicolò A.M., Norsa D. (2017). The Italian approach to family and couple therapy. In Palacios E., Scharff D. (eds.), Family and Couple Psychoanalysis. A global perspective. London: Karnac.
  14. Nicolò A.M. (2025). Gli inconsci che ci abitano. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  15. Nicolò A.M., Lisciotto D. (a cura di), in corso pubblicazione (FrancoAngeli, 2026).
  16. Racamier P.-C. (1990). A proposito dell’ingranamento. Interazioni, 0, 1992: 61-70.
  17. Sapisochin G. (2013). L’Agieren rivisitato: quando l’ascolto si trasforma in enactment. L’Annata Psicoanalitica Internazionale, 8, 2016: 195-221.
  18. Shapiro R.L. (1967). The origin of adolescent disturbances in the family: some considerations in theory and implications for therapy. In Zuk G.H., Boszormenyi-Nagy I. (eds.), Family Therapy and Disturbed Families. Palo Alto: Sciences and Behavior Books.
  19. Shapiro R.L. (1968). Action and family interaction in adolescence. In Marmor J. (ed.), Modern Psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books.
  20. Shapiro R.L., Zinner J. (1991). Organizzazione familiare e sviluppo dell’adolescente. In Scharff J.S. (a cura di), I fondamenti della terapia familiare. Milano: FrancoAngeli, 1999.

Anna Maria Nicolò, Psicoanalisi della famiglia e della coppia: un modello italiano in "INTERAZIONI" 2/2025, pp 13-28, DOI: 10.3280/INT2025-002002