Micropsychoanalysis
Micropsychoanalysis
What is micropsychoanalysis
It is a technique for analyzing the psyche and resolving unconscious conflicts, based on the study of microscopic details of psychic life where emotions are concentrated. Micropsychoanalysis can be considered an evolution of Freudian psychoanalysis which, through an intensive process, allows access to the deep layers of the psyche and focuses on specific details of psychic life that generate suffering and existential difficulties.
Freudian foundations
Micropsychoanalysis maintains the foundations of classical psychoanalysis: free association, analysis of unconscious derivatives (dreams, slips of the tongue, missed acts), and analysis of transference-countertransference.
The theoretical model
On a theoretical level, the micropsychoanalytic model is energetic-drive-based. By incorporating the energetic component, micropsychoanalysis integrates contributions from contemporary sciences and other psychoanalysts (Klein, Jung, Bowlby, Stern) into Freudian metapsychology. Micropsychoanalysis can be considered a good synthesis between Freudian psychoanalysis and object relations theory.
The long session and frequency
To conduct the microscopic study of psychic details, while maintaining the fundamental principles of the classical psychoanalytic method, certain variations in technique have been developed that, in some instances, also involve a partial modification of the setting. The fundamental innovation is the extension of the session duration. It is no longer 45–50 minutes but ranges from 1.5 to 3 hours. The frequency can vary from twice a week to an intensive schedule with almost daily sessions for short periods. Long sessions reduce resistance and facilitate the emergence of archaic material.
Photographic and genealogical material
To facilitate the emergence of repressed elements, other technical measures have been introduced, such as personal and family photographs, epistolary correspondence and chat, genealogical material. Everything is studied and analyzed meticulously, maintaining attention to representational and affective detail. The combination of intensity and length of sessions, together with other technical measures integrated into the micropsychoanalytic technique, makes this approach particularly effective for resolving debilitating problems and achieving better psychophysical well-being.
The founder Silvio Fanti
Micropsychoanalysis was discovered in the 1950s by Silvio Fanti, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and institutionalized in 1973 in the International Society of Micropsychoanalysis. Fanti felt the need to update the Freudian model and classical analytic technique to adapt them to the changing needs of social, family, and individual contexts.
Flexible approach
Micropsychoanalysis emphasizes a flexible approach, adapting the duration and frequency of sessions to individual needs. The duration of the session and the weekly frequency are established at the end of the preliminary treatment based on the subject's age, psychic structure, and mental functioning, which are reflected in associative capacity and the type of transference. The use of IT tools for remote work is not excluded, although in-person sessions are preferred because they are more effective.
Active role of the analyst
The analyst is no longer just a neutral listener, but actively intervenes to facilitate the patient's evolution, promoting personal growth and improving relationships. Transference-countertransference dynamics acquire another dimension: they are no longer addressed only as repetitions of uterine-infant experiences and projections of desires and phantoms in the analytic situation, but also as real interactions and exchanges between the two protagonists of this situation. This approach is not considered in contrast with classical psychoanalysis, but as its natural development.
"Associative rings"
A key concept is the formation of "associative rings". An associative ring is a broad connection of verbalized elements, apparently distant from each other, that return at the end of the session revealing deeper and unconscious connections (Lysek, 2010).
The concept of "resonance"
The concept of "resonance," borrowed from physics, is introduced to explain how external events can reactivate unconscious experiences and contribute to the formation of symptoms. This helps to understand the complex interaction between the internal and external worlds (Lysek, 2016).
Intrauterine life
In continuity with Klein's studies on the first year of a child's life, some psychoanalysts of our Society have devoted much attention to the first mother-child interactions starting from intrauterine life. The pioneering hypotheses of Nicola Peluffo (1976) on the intrauterine psychobiological bases of ambivalence in human relationships have been confirmed by recent scientific studies in the genetic field (Haig D. 1993; Wilkins J.F. & Haig D. 2003).
Objectives
This type of analysis aims at deeper personal fulfillment. The attenuation or healing of symptoms is an indirect effect of better internal and relational balance. The ultimate goal is to live better, to find agreement with some aspects of one's own psyche that escape conscious will, to leave behind painful repetitions, to try to resolve relational or personal difficulties, to unlock vital potential.
The International Society of Micropsychoanalysis
The International Society of Micropsychoanalysis was founded on February 17, 1973, on the initiative of the close collaborators of Silvio Fanti, who was appointed honorary president. The Society's headquarters are in Couvet (Switzerland).
The Society's aims are the dissemination of micropsychoanalytic practice and writings related to theory and technique. To this end, the organization of all types of training and dissemination activities is foreseen.
Initially, it grouped together professionals and supporters of the method. Subsequently, National Institutes were established: Italian, Swiss, and French. The spread and growth of micropsychoanalysis in various countries led in 2012 to the approval of a statutory amendment, according to which the Society operates through the National Institutes, which, in turn, have established their own statutes, administrative and directorial bodies, and a Commission for the regulation of micropsychoanalytic practice.
From Psychoanalysis to Micropsychoanalysis
As is known, psychoanalysis is a research method that allows those who experience it to understand the unconscious mechanisms that govern many of their desires, thoughts, and behaviors. This knowledge makes it possible to resolve conflicts between the unconscious part of the psychic apparatus and the preconscious-conscious parts, that is, the conflicts that generate clinical manifestations, commonly defined as psychoneuroses. This is also the therapeutic function of the psychoanalytic method.
Psychoanalysis sets itself the task of studying the psychic apparatus by breaking it down into its constituent components (unconscious-preconscious-conscious, id-ego-superego), thanks to the method discovered by S. Freud and developed by his disciples. It is based on three cornerstones:
- free association;
- analysis of unconscious derivatives (missed acts, slips of the tongue, dreams);
- analysis of transference.
The psychic balance of the human being is the result of a multiplicity of past and present events, attempts, instinctual drives, moral and socio-cultural prohibitions, contingent needs, conscious and unconscious desires. The dynamics resulting from the encounter of all these elements can lead to conflicts that sometimes may also have hereditary determinants.
The search for the microscopic components of unconscious conflict is one of the main objectives of micropsychoanalysis, which directs attention to the details of psychic life where affect shifts and concentrates. Micropsychoanalysis, discovered by the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Silvio Fanti in the 1950s, derives "from a slow metabolization of Freudian psychoanalysis and from the comparative study of the repetitions of life and death that man unknowingly performs." (Fanti S., 1986).
To carry out the microscopic study of psychic detail, while maintaining the cornerstones of the psychoanalytic method, some variations in the technique have been developed that, in certain passages, also involve a partial modification of the setting.
The main variations are the lengthening of the session duration and the introduction of photographic and genealogical material of the analysand. Over time, the modifications of the setting have brought to light some elements that have led to the updating of the theoretical model.
On a theoretical level, the micropsychoanalytic model is energetic-pulsional. By adding the energetic component, micropsychoanalysis has integrated the contributions of contemporary sciences and other psychoanalysts to Freudian metapsychology.
In continuity with Klein's studies on the first year of the child's life, some psychoanalysts of our Society have dedicated much attention to the first mother-child interactions from intrauterine life (Peluffo N., 1976 and 2010). From the Jungian heritage, Peluffo and Tartari have deepened research on the phylogenetic dimension of the psyche and the transgenerational transmission of trauma. Micropsychoanalysis has also integrated Bowlby's attachment theory (1999) and Stern's affective attunement theory (1987). These approaches, which are more oriented towards attributing importance to the relationship, are also reflected in the micropsychoanalytic technique, which has been conceived from the outset as a flexible setting, to adapt to numerous clinical situations.
