Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Drive For Self-Assertion And The Reality Principle In A Patient With Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: The History of Giulia*

  • Original Article
  • Published:
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Aims and scope

Abstract

Life in a contaminated environment is often marked by a cumulative psychological trauma that exhibits a variety of social-environmental aspects. This is why I suggested a psychotherapeutic group intervention for the population of Casale Monferrato, a municipality in Northern Italy that is sadly renowned for asbestos-related events and the high mortality rate of its inhabitants. Groupality appears to show the point of contact between psyche and soma, while also promoting the birth of a more realistic approach to the various levels of suffering and their configuration. The multifamily approach seemed to be the most adequate to elaborate the feelings of rage and fear that are concurrent with the aerial contagion. In the “long wave” of group work we have learned to work with participants as well as with empty chairs, the ghosts of the dead: live traces in the mind. Whereas the mind recovers the possibility of entering into a dialogue with the feelings connected to the trauma, without bypassing them towards actions that are apparently more assertive of one’s sense of Ego, the will of conciliation can reactivate a thought that is oriented towards the plane of reality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ambrosiano, L. & Gaburri, E. (2013). Pensare con Freud. [Thinking with Freud]. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bion, W. R. (1961). Experiences in groups and other papers. London: Tavistock.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bion, W. R. (1992). Cogitations. London: Karnac Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgogno, F. (1999). Psychoanalysis as a journey. London: Open Gate Press (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgogno, F. V. (2010). Working with “difficult” patients: An interview with Jorge García Badaracco. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 70, 343–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgogno, F. V., Franzoi, I. G., Barbasio, C. P., Guglielmucci, F. & Granieri, A. (2015). Massive trauma in a community exposed to asbestos: Thinking and dissociation in the population of Casale Monferrato. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 31(4), 419–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fazzo, L., Minelli, G., De Santis, M., Bruno, C., Zona, A., Marinaccio, A., et al. (2012). Mesothelioma mortality surveillance and asbestos exposure tracking in Italy. Annali dell’Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 48, 300–310.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferenczi, S. (1928). The elasticity of psycho-analytical technique. In Final contributions to the problems and methods of psycho-analysis (pp. 87–101). London: The Hogarth Press and The Institute of Psychoanalysis. 1955.

  • Ferenczi, S. (1932). The Clinical Diary of Sándor Ferenczi. J. Dupont (Ed.), M. Balint and N. Z. Jackson (Trans.) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1988.

  • Ferrante, D., Bertolotti, M., Todesco, A., Mirabelli, D., Terracini, B. & Magnani, C. (2007). Cancer mortality and incidence of mesothelioma in a cohort of wives of asbestos workers in Casale Monferrato, Italy. Environmental Health Perspective, 115, 1401–1405.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furlan, C. & Mortarino, C. (2012). Pleural mesothelioma: Forecasts of the death toll in the area of Casale Monferrato, Italy. Statistics in Medicine, 31, 4114–4134.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gaburri, E. & Granieri, A. (2008). Il paziente psicosomatico e la ‘pubblic-azione’. [The psychosomatic patient and the “public-a(c)tion”]. Acts of the International Congress “Bion 2008. Second Thoughts: Funzione Alfa e Cambiamento Catastrofico”. [Bion 2008. Second Thoughts: alpha funcion and catastrophic change]. Rome, January 31 - February 3, 2008.

  • García Badaracco, J. (1989). Comunidad terapéutica psicoanalítica de estructura multifamiliar [Multifamiliar Psychoanalysis in Therapeutic Communities]. Madrid: Tecnipublicaciones.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Badaracco, J. (2000). Psicoanálisis Multifamiliar. Los otros en nosotros y el descubrimiento de sí mismo. [Multifamiliar Psychoanalysis. We and the others in the discovering of ourselves]. Buenos Aires: Paidos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granieri, A. (2008a). Amianto, risorsa e dramma di Casale. Risvolti psicologici nelle persone affette da mesotelioma e nei loro familiari. [Asbestos: resource and tragedy for Casale Monferrato. Psychological aspects in people affected by malignant pleural mesothelioma and in their caregivers]. Genova: Fratelli Frilli.

  • Granieri, A. (2008b). Il percorso dal corpo alla psiche e la funzione di “pubblic-azione” [The path from body to mind and the “public-a(c)tion”]. Il Vaso di Pandora. Dialoghi in psichiatria e scienze umane, 16, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granieri, A. (2013). L’amiante, la double peine. Casale Monferrato: atteintes physiques, traumatismes psychologiques, résistances. [Asbestos, the double pain. Physical harm, psychological trauma and resilience]. Fréjus: Sudarenes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granieri, A. (2014). L’incontro psicoanalitico con una mente gruppale traumatizzata: percorsi di resilienza. [The psychoanalytic encounter with a traumatized group mind: journeys of resilience]. In A. Rozenfeld (Ed.), La resilienza: una posizione soggettiva di fronte alle avversità. Prospettive psicoanalitiche. Genova: Fratelli Frilli Editore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granieri, A. (2016). Extreme trauma in a polluted area: bonds and relational transformations in an Italian Community. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 25(2), 94–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granieri, A. & Borgogno, F. V. (2014). Pensabilità e dissociazione in una popolazione colpita da trauma massivo: una ricerca intervento di matrice psicoanalitica. [Thinking and dissociation in a community exposed to massive trauma: A psychoanalytic research intervention]. Il Vaso di Pandora. Dialoghi in psichiatria e scienze umane, 22, 83–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granieri, A., Tamburello, S., Tamburello, A., Casale, S., Cont, C., Guglielmucci, F., et al. (2013). Quality of life and personality traits in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma and their first degree caregivers. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment Journal, 9, 1193–1202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guglielmucci, F., Franzoi, I. G., Barbasio, C. P., Borgogno, F. V. & Granieri, A. (2014). Helping traumatized people survive: A psychoanalytic intervention in a contaminated site. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1419. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01419.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Guglielmucci, F., Franzoi, I. G., Zuffranieri, M. & Granieri, A. (2015). Living in contaminated sites: Which cost for psychic health? Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(4 S3), 207–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koritar, E. & Garon, J. (Issue Editors) (2017). Second Toronto special issue: The heritage of a psychoanalytic mind, American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 77(3).

  • Lo Iacono, M., Monica, V., Righi, L., Grosso, F., Libener, R., Vatrano, S., et al. (2015). Targeted next-generation sequencing of cancer genes in advanced stage malignant pleural mesothelioma: a retrospective study. Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 10, 492–499.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Magnani, C., Ferrante, D., Barone-Adesi, F., Bertolotti, M., Todesco, A., Mirabelli, D., et al. (2008). Cancer risk after cessation of asbestos exposure: A cohort study of Italian asbestos cement workers. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 65, 164–170.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marinaccio, A., Binazzi, A., Cauzzillo, G., Cavone, D., Zotti, R. D., Ferrante, P., et al. (2007). Analysis of latency time and its determinants in asbestos relates malignant mesothelioma cases of the Italian registers. European Journal of Cancer, 43, 2722–2728.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rozenfeld, A. (2014). La resilienza: una posizione soggettiva di fronte alle avversità. Prospettive psicoanalitiche. [Resiliency: a subjective position in front of adversities. Psychoanalytical perspectives.] Genova: Fratelli Frilli. Italian Edition Edited by Antonella Granieri.

  • Seganti, A., Albasi, C. & Granieri, A. (2003). Linguaggio e sensazioni: “Tra il dire e il fare”. Strategie di costruzione dialogica della salute. [Language and sensations: “Between saying and doing”. Strategies for a dialogic construction of health]. Ricerca in Psicoterapia, 6, 203–228.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Po 14, 10123, Turin, Italy

    Antonella Granieri

Authors
  1. Antonella Granieri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonella Granieri.

Additional information

Address Correspondence to Antonella Granieri, D.Clin.Psy., Department of Psychology, Via Po 14, 10123 Torino (Italy); e-mail: antonella.granieri@unito.it

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Granieri, A. The Drive For Self-Assertion And The Reality Principle In A Patient With Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: The History of Giulia*. Am J Psychoanal 77, 285–294 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-017-9099-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-017-9099-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation