Opifer

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OPIFER [1] is a psychoanalytic association founded in Italy on November 4, 1996, now counting about 150 members.

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Philosophy

The members follow various orientations, and OPIFER is perhaps the only psychoanalytic association in Europe wherein Freudian, Neo-Freudian, Kleinian, relational, interpersonal, and even Lacanian or Jungian analysts actually coexist and discuss together, all of them aiming at encouraging a pluralistic approach, which welcomes the dialogue among different positions and rejects any dogmatic attitude. The "founding father" of this undertaking was Marco Bacciagaluppi (Milan), who has also been its first President, succeeded by Sergio Dazzi (Parma), Sergio Caruso (Florence), Pietro Andujar (Milan), and Luciana La Stella (Milan).

Melanie Klein British Austrian born psychoanalyst

Melanie Klein née Reizes was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst who is known for her work in the world of developmental psychology. Her observation and novel therapeutic techniques for adolescents had a profound effect on child psychology as well as contemporary psychoanalysis.

Relational psychoanalysis

Relational psychoanalysis is a school of psychoanalysis in the United States that emphasizes the role of real and imagined relationships with others in mental disorder and psychotherapy. 'Relational psychoanalysis is a relatively new and evolving school of psychoanalytic thought considered by its founders to represent a "paradigm shift" in psychoanalysis'.

The name OPIFER is both an acronym (Organizzazione di Psicoanalisti Italiani Federazione e Registro, i.e. Organization of Italian Psychoanalysts Federation and Roster), and a Latin word meaning "he who helps". "Opifer" was in fact the classic appellation of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, when he appeared in the dreams of suffering people to bring them relief (Ovidius, Metamorphoseon L. XV: 653). Coherently with this name, OPIFER stresses the therapeutic function of psychoanalysis, as well as the opportuneness to host classic psychoanalysis and all psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapies under the same roof, in constant dialogue with clinical psychology and dynamic psychiatry.

Asclepius Ancient Greek god of medicine

Asclepius or Hepius is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia, Iaso, Aceso, Aegle, and Panacea. He was associated with the Roman/Etruscan god Vediovis and the Egyptian Imhotep. He was one of Apollo's sons, sharing with Apollo the epithet Paean. The rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff, remains a symbol of medicine today. Those physicians and attendants who served this god were known as the Therapeutae of Asclepius.

Clinical psychology is an integration of science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.

Dynamic psychiatry is based on the study of emotional processes, their origins, and the mental mechanisms underlying them. It is in direct contrast with descriptive psychiatry, which is based on the study of observable symptoms and behavioral phenomena rather than underlying psychodynamic processes. Most modern psychiatrists believe that it is most helpful to combine the two approaches in a biopsychosocial model.

The statute is in a way inspired by that of the AAPDP (American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry [2] ), which was founded on the same principles many years before, in 1956. In fact the two Associations keep fraternal relationships, and organize a Joint Meeting "in the footsteps of Silvano Arieti" (the Italo-American famous psychiatrist and psychoanalyst) every year, some of them published. Unlike AAPDP, however, OPIFER is not only an association of individuals: it is also, and mainly works as a federation, i.e. a national association of various associations locally based in different Italian towns, each keeping and maintaining its theoretical orientation and training peculiarities, but all of them willing to cooperate.

The American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis (AAPDPP)is a scholarly society including psychiatrists interested in all aspects of psychodynamic psychiatry.

Silvano Arieti was a psychiatrist regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on schizophrenia. He received his M.D. from the University of Pisa and left Italy soon after, due to the increasingly racial policies of Benito Mussolini.

The Italian Associations federated with OPIFER (four at the moment when it was founded, in 1996) are now eleven, whereof three have also membership in the IFPS (International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies [3] ). Other scientific societies with which OPIFER has institutional ties of partnership are the "Erich Fromm" International Society, based in Tuebingen, Germany, [4] and the "Silvano Arieti" Foundation, based in Pisa, Italy. [5]

Erich Fromm German sociologist and psychoanalyst

Erich Seligmann Fromm was a German-born American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was one of the Founders of The William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology in New York City and was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.

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Psychoanalysis psychological theory that was founded in 1890 by the Viennese neurologist Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques related to the study of the unconscious mind, which together form a method of treatment for mental-health disorders. The discipline was established in the early 1890s by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud and stemmed partly from the clinical work of Josef Breuer and others. Psychoanalysis was later developed in different directions, mostly by students of Freud such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav Jung, and by neo-Freudians such as Erich Fromm, Karen Horney and Harry Stack Sullivan. Freud retained the term psychoanalysis for his own school of thought.

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S. H. Foulkes was a German-British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He developed a theory of group behaviour that led to his founding of group analysis, a variant of group therapy. He initiated the Group Analytic Society, and the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) in London. In 1933, owing to his Jewish descent, Foulkes had emigrated to England. In 1938, he was granted British citizenship and changed his name to S. H. Foulkes.

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References

  1. ↑ OPIFER official website
  2. ↑ American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry website
  3. ↑ International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies website
  4. ↑ International Erich Fromm Society website
  5. ↑ Silvano Arieti Foundation website
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