Presentation of the book series "L'osservazione
psicoanalitica" ["The Psychoanalytic Observation"] (from the back cover):
Thanks to this book series, vivid and scientifically rigorous descriptions
made by authors of various orientations within the psychoanalytic field -
that have in common the ability of observing and acutely understanding the
meaning of complex human behaviors - are made available out of the context
of the wider books where they were originally published.
This book series leads the reader towards mental phenomena and the mystery
that surrounds any insight trying to shed light on them. The psychoanalytic
understanding does not eliminate the characteristic of interminable process
that keeps in the background each truth presenting itself as a paradigm: it
is a way of asking questions rather than a way of knowing.
In particular, the realm of affects is the nuclear aspect of the
psychoanalytic edifice. The dynamics, the vicissitudes, and the
transformations of affects, and their regulation that goes from the most
elementary drives to the most differentiated feelings - up to language that
expresses them and to the relation with consciousness - allowed the
collection of acute and sophisticated observations that produced pages of
rare beauty and also of great clinical value.
The sensitive understanding of affects, empathy, and the ability of
translating them into words are working instruments of the psychoanalyst.
But they are also instruments of daily living in which each one can identify
beyond the scientific codes that are necessary for the construction of a
psychoanalytic psychology.
These
small volumes are useful to mental health professionals. But also non
professionals will feel closer to a perspective that nowadays is an heritage
of everybody's culture and that - by its own nature escaping from
"scientistic" temptations - represents the history and the human
condition of our time.
