What is it about?

This paper is focused on Silvano Arieti (1914-1981), an Italian-born psychiatrist who became especially famous in the field of schizophrenia. If we retrieve his work in psychiatry is because he adopting a humanistic perspective and inspired by psychoanalysis, he strongly challenged conventional approaches to the treatment of psychosis.

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Why is it important?

This paper is important for lay public and experts because it is here revitalized interest in the use of psychotherapy in the treatment of psychosis. Supporting this idea, there are compeling reasons. One of the most important of them is the failure of the utilization of the biological approach only in the treatment of psychosis. Thus, reducing the therapy of psychosis solely to the medical aspects of psychiatry implies imposing limits on the psychotic individual's personal autonomy and choice. With all this in mind, we believed it interesting to reexamine the importance of the role of the therapist, and to reconsider the relevance of Arieti's work to the treatment of psychosis.

Perspectives

Psychotherapy of psychosis is compatible with medication treatment, but it also implies a genuine respect for psychotic individuals. In this sense, whatever benefit the patient could receive has to come from bonds created with a least one other human being: a member of family, the therapist, a friend, etc.

PhD Francisco Balbuena Rivera
Universidad de Huelva

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: The Relevance of Arieti’s Work in the Age of Medication, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, June 2016, Nature,
DOI: 10.1057/s11231-016-9044-7.
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