Abstract

(This a revised text originally published as “Italy and Psychoanalysis” in the Journal of European Psychoanalysis (JEP) Volume 5, Spring-Fall 1997). This brief overview of the state of psychoanalysis in Italy describes its development in the country, in particular from the 1970s to the present day, closely relating it to psychoanalysis in the Western world in general. As well as the psychoanalytic schools (both the IPA and the Lacanian schools), the author describes the impact of various forms of psychiatry and psychotherapy that compete with psychoanalysis in the market of human distress: the anti-institutional psychiatry of Basaglia, systemic-relational family therapies and cognitivist psychiatry. It analyses the increasing separation of psychoanalysis from medical “respectability”, its assimilation into an increasingly hermeneutic and humanistic practice, and the hegemony of the concept of “empathy”. Finally, it looks at the ups and downs of the fortunes of psychoanalysis in Italy in connection with the function intellectuals play within society and politics.

Keywords: Italian psychoanalysis, Basaglia, Weak Lacanism, Italian culture

How to Cite:

Benvenuto, S., (2024) “Psychoanalysis in Italy, Explained to Non-Italians”, The European Journal of Psychoanalysis 11(1), 1–14.

Rights: In Copyright