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Through a sort of 'journey in time', this work aims to present a brief update on the latest developments on the subject of 'care of the subject' in psychoanalysis. In particular, the emphasis is placed on the therapeutic vision that characterized the early days of this discipline, which was essentially oriented in a single direction from the therapist to the patient, and on its shift to the current dominant perspective, which is different in that it is instead based on the concept of 'mutuality'. In this more recent view, the changes in the psychic structure of the patient over time derive from the changes that the patient has, mostly unknowingly, produced over time in the psychic structure of the therapist who has taken care of and is taking care of him/her. All this occurs on the basis of concepts and models that have only entered the sphere of interest of psychoanalysis in recent decades, for example, the 'Theory of Chaos' and the various systemic theories that have developed from Ludwig von Bertalanffy's 'General system Theory' to the most recent models of interpretation of 'complex nonlinear dynamical systems'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alessandro Gigante, 48, teacher of Italian and Latin at a high school in Rome: I took my degree in psychology after undertaking an 8-year psychoanalysis as a patient with Gianni Nebbiosi. I was fascinated by psychoanalysis and I remained very attached to Gianni who, together with Susi, were my teachers during the 4 years of specialization school in psychotherapy at Isispé. I became a psychoanalyst to try to offer others the same opportunities for awareness, freedom, relationship, listening, affection and understanding that I have received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This discussion reviews the subjective experience of analysts encountering enactment in clinical practice and the various attempts which have been made to maintain therapist coherence under the destabilizing effects of their own unconscious intersubjective process. The discussion includes descriptions of the phenomenal experience of enactment and a variety of responses to that experience. Also, the issue of how the subjective experience might be reported and conveyed in sharable language is examined, especially with reference to the use of metaphor as a potential bridge between subjects. Questions are raised as to whether process or content variables contribute more to coherence of mind and which relationship variables are more salient. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, an overview of anxiety theories including the latest findings from perinatal and infant research will be explored from a holistic perspective. The body psychotherapy approach to anxiety problems will then be illustrated with case vignettes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two patients in long-term intensive psychotherapy, both engaged at a deep transference level, are compared. The author explores two questions: First, 'What is essential for a therapeutic process to take place?'; and second, 'What contemporary theoretical models are useful in conceptualizing that process?' Six clinical/theoretical categories are delineated: (1) the quality of attachment to the therapist, (2) the nature of the transference, (3) interpretation, (4) patient and therapist personal attributes and life circumstances that facilitate and inhibit the process, (5) the responsibilities of both patient and therapist, and (6) how to conceptualize growth and what criteria to use to determine whether it has occurred. The final section discusses the self psychological theories that best explain these two patients: Kohut (selfobject theory and the nuclear self); Stern and the Boston Process Change Study Group (implicit relational knowing); Lachmann and Beebe (co-constructed interactions); and Shane, Shane, and Gayles (nonlinear systems theory). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]