Dynamic Psychology
PROF. MARIA TERESA MAIOCCHI
COURSE AIMS
The course has an institutional-historical cut and intends to provide students with
the basic tools for finding their way inside the complex picture of “dynamic”
concepts of psychology in relation to the specific Freudian contribution, interpreted
in its current clinical pertinence.
COURSE CONTENT
The critical points of Freudian discovery will be considered from the aspect of
their previous precedents and of their historical and cultural unravelling, in order
to assess fully the clinical pertinence and topicality today. The aim of study is in
fact to allow the student to find his/her bearings within the fundamental clinical
and epistemological problem areas of the Freudian model starting from the
invention of the unconscious, putting to test the interest in the initial construction
of a clinical psychology, the modifications made during its path and, above all, its
still current effectiveness.
The student will, with this equipment, be immediately led to gather the relational
implication: the construction of Freud – a closer look - bring into play - from its
origins - a subject already in relation to the object, already implicated in the
meeting with the Other.
In this sense the development will be crucial of some of the concepts that form the
basis of the Freudian clinic, in particular that of transference, nowadays widely
used in the various psychological disciplines, nevertheless not fully valid and
difficult to manage if uprooted from experience and from the theorisation that has
founded it. They will draw from it the historical and structural meaning, the
reworking, the ethical questions that it brings, the deviations and reductions, the
topicality and the value in psychological post-modern practices.
Following this thread:
a. in the first semester, the historical and cultural elements will be considered
starting from those from which it is possible to develop the idea of a “dynamic
psyche”, with special reference to the origins of the Freudian invention and also
through reading and in-depth study of texts during the lectures and practical
lesson, which are an essential part of the course, in that they are preparation for
the second part of the teaching route;
b. in the second semester, the key elements of Freudian elaboration will be studied
in-depth from a critical standpoint, starting from the formation of the
unconscious – especially the symptom – from which Freud moves, in his idea
of a psychopathology that is “of daily life” rather than a psychiatric “disorder”.
What are the consequences of the initial introduction along the route and to its
end? What legacy is there in the after-Freud clinic?
In the critical structure that will, overall, be drawn in the development of point a
and point b, an attempt will be made to construct a model. The
conscious/unconscious division of the first topic (with the interrelated “law” of the
pleasure principle) will be followed by a radical question on the effective
possibility of a driving balance. This will be the passage to a second topic, in
continuity and/or discontinuity to the first: the discovery of a death drive redefines
the model and the terms of its effectiveness. This “turning”, really of the decade of
the Twenties, has come to establish a certain opening up of the Freudian path. Due
to this it will be possible to ask: what are the consequences in the various postFreudian schools and in the post-modern clinics?
READING LIST
Information on the reading list may require some changes and more detail in relation to
the content of the teaching, this will be duly published on the home page of the lecturer.
N.B.: the books by Freud, indicated in reference to the critical edition published by
Boringhieri in 12 volumes, of which, as well as the accuracy of the translation both the
introductory editorial notes and the footnotes are very fine, help the reader to place the text
in context. The student should remember that the critical edition is also available, always in
the Bollati Boringhieri edition, in various economical editions from the same publisher.
Other editions are not recommended.
Institutional and historical texts
S. VEGETTI FINZI, Storia della psicoanalisi, Mondadori, Milano, 1986 (excluding chap. 15).
H.F. ELLENBERGER, La scoperta dell’inconscio. Storia della psichiatria dinamica, Bollati
Boringhieri, Torino, 1976 [new ed. of 2003 (chaps. 1, 2 and 3)].
M. FOUCAULT, Storia della follia nell’età classica, Rizzoli, Milano, 1963 (new ed. 1998), (the chaps
will be indicated).
Books by Freud
S. FREUD, Psicopatologia della vita quotidiana (1901), in FREUD, Opere [cit., vol. 4 (pp. 51-297)].
S. FREUD, Ricordare, ripetere, rielaborare (1914), in FREUD, Opere [cit., vol. 7 (pp. 353-361)].
S. FREUD, Metapsicologia (1915), in FREUD, Opere, [cit., vol. 8 (pp. 13-122), in particular Lutto e
melanconia (pp. 102-118)].
S. FREUD, Al di là del principio del piacere (1920), in FREUD, Opere, [cit., vol. 9 (pp. 193-249)].
S. FREUD, Analisi terminabile e interminabile (1937), in FREUD, Opere [cit., vol. 11 (pp. 499-540)].
Critical texts (related to the development of the course)
M.T. MAIOCCHI, La svolta di Freud e l’attualità della clinica. Scenari alle origini della psicologia
dinamica, (in print )
M.T. MAIOCCHI, Nomi del corpo, nomi del disagio, in M. T. Maiocchi, Il taglio del sintomo, F.
Angeli, Milano, 2010 (pp.111-133).
J. LACAN, Lo stadio dello specchio come formatore della funzione dell’Io (1949), in Scritti, Einaudi,
Torino, 1974 (pp. 87-94).
Notes and slides related to the Course.
In-depth reading (suggested on central themes touched on during the course, a free
choice of contextualisation and acculturation by the student)
M. FOUCAULT, Nascita della clinica. Una archeologia dello sguardo medico (1963), Einaudi,
Torino, 1969 (new ed. 1998).
S. FREUD, Frammento di un’analisi di isteria (Caso clinico di Dora) (1905), in FREUD, Opere, [cit.,
vol. 4 (pp. 305-402) ].
S. FREUD, Sessualità femminile (1931), in FREUD, Opere, vol. 11, (pp. 63-80).
J. LACAN, Intervento sul transfert (1951), in Scritti (1966), Einaudi, Torino, 1974 (pp. 208-219).
M.T. MAIOCCHI, L’incanto della strega. Tra le due topiche: operatività dell’apparato psichico ed
etica della struttura, in M.T. MAIOCCHI, Il taglio del sintomo, F. Angeli, Milano, 2010.
D. LEADER, J. GROVES, Lacan. Introduzione a fumetti, L’ancora del mediterraneo, Napoli, 2012.
TEACHING METHOD
Lectures in the lecture room, combined with practical lessons in the first semester. Great
merit will be given to the active participation of the student in the lecture room, but also
during the lectures. Possible specific areas will be given in relation to the development of
the course.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
The exam will consist of a first written part, related to the institutional and historical
topics, that will then be reconsidered orally with reference to the development of the course
(and to the texts connected to it). (Further information will be given, from time to time
updated, on the Lecturer’s homepage, material related to the teaching course will also be
available).
Remember that the course is an annual one, therefore the exam can only be sat starting
from the summer session (June, 2013). Only for students attending the course, there will be
the opportunity for assessment of intermediate exams during the first semester.
NOTES
Further information can be found on the lecturer's webpage at
http://docenti.unicatt.it/web/searchByName.do?language=ENG or on the Faculty notice
board.