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Je traiterai quatre themes, etroitement lies entre eux : la question de la vie privee en psychanalyse de groupe ; les fantasmes et les peurs des patients avant d’entrer dans le groupe ; le changement rapide qui se produit des que s’etablit l’appartenance ; et la disparition au meme moment, comme par enchantement, des problemes de vie privee.

Le travail analytique de groupe est caracterise par la centralite du passage de fantasmes, de pensees et de problemes de la sphere individuelle au champ du groupe. L’importance de ce passage peut etre assimilee a celle que revetent, dans l’analyse duelle, le transfert et le passage de l’inconscient au preconscient et au conscient. J’ai choisi le terme commuting pour indiquer l’ensemble des operations liees a ce passage. Dans l’anglais courant, un commuter est une personne qui vit en banlieue et qui se rend chaque jour en ville pour travailler. Les commuters font la navette dans les deux sens. Dans le petit groupe a visee psychanalytique, pour qu’un commuting puisse avoir lieu, il faut du temps, des efforts et un certain degre de creativite. Dans certains cas, il faut egalement que la personne « qui souhaite partager un probleme » modifie prealablement sa position et son statut a l’interieur du groupe.

Le contact avec l’inconnu et le non-connu est fondamental pour maintenir un bon fonctionnement de la psyche.Bion suggere d’employer le concept d’evolution en O (la chose en soi, la divinite, la mere) en le distinguant de la transformation K (Knowledge, la connaissance, le savoir a propos de quelque chose).La prise de contact avec l’inconnu et le fait de rester en rapport avec son evolution sont essentiels dans la psychotherapie psychanalytique de groupe. Dans le dispositif de groupe, toutefois, le contact et le maintien de ce rapport s’expriment dans des formes et des modalites differentes de celles de la cure.Je presenterai une sequence clinique de quatre seances qui permettra de suivre – suffisamment en detail – le processus a l’interieur d’un groupe et de reconnaitre les effets therapeutiques et la transformation personnelle des participants que ce processus entraine.

The main point of this article is the recognition that the patient doesn't create a field only with the analyst, but also with other important people, with his work place, and with some Self-Objects. The analyst may perceive how the patient's moods, feelings, and self-esteem change when entering each of these different fields. The analytic field created between the analyst and the patient is an important tool, a sort of Geiger counter, through which the analyst may detect the presence and the activity of these other fields. Isabel's brief case history illustrates a useful approach to deal with the negative effects of a very disturbing and confusing field she established with the company she worked for.

La nozione di fede - diversamente da quelle di «Illusione», «Capacitŕ di tollerare le frustrazioni », «Investimento libidico» - non ha trovato un posto ben definito nella teoria psicoanalitica. Bion si č occupato di F (fede), per ciň che riguarda la sua funzione nel lavoro scientifico. Secondo Bion, č necessario un «Atto di fede» per dare consistenza ad alcune ipotesi e intuizioni, che emergono durante le sedute analitiche e che corrispondono a fatti, la cui esistenza non č considerata dalle piů comuni teorie. Lo scopo dell'autore č riprendere le sue proposte, mettendo in evidenza la rilevanza clinica di F ed elaborando una concezione che risulti utile nel lavoro analitico. La prima parte del testo č dedicata all'esame delle aree nelle quali fede e fiducia si sovrappongono e di quelle nelle quali invece si divaricano. Ad esempio, la fede possiede un carattere propulsivo ed attivante, che non č parimenti rappresentato nel rapporto di fiducia. La seconda parte prende in considerazione F come fattore di una funzione psichica dell'analista, che č necessaria per riuscire a sostenere un paziente che si sente disperato e privo di risorse, attendendo che il suo desiderio di vivere si presenti nuovamente. L'ultima parte esamina F, vedendolo dal punto di vista del paziente e studiando le trasformazioni cui puň andare incontro durante l'analisi.

Le but de cet article est de mettre en exergue et en valeur l’efficacite therapeutique de certaines phases de la vie du groupe, qui ne correspondent ni a une activite cognitive, ni a un apport interpretatif de l’analyste. Il s’agit des phases de silence et des phases de participation joyeuse qui alternent avec les phases de travail et en renforcent l’efficacite therapeutique.

This article is an account of the work I did with a psychotherapy group which lasted over 20 years. The participants were psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychotherapists, and educati...

Les membres du groupe developpent et utilisent leur propre theorie sur l’origine de la souffrance mentale, une theorie qui fait partie de la culture du groupe. Il s’agit d’une theorie implicite. Elle est en effet utilisee par les membres du groupe sans avoir ete prealablement formalisee, organisee et clairement formulee. La reconnaissance de ses contenus et de ses caracteristiques par l’analyste est importante. L’analyste qui est en mesure de les reconnaitre peut egalement mieux comprendre comment fonctionne le groupe dans sa tentative de parvenir a la guerison.Cette reconnaissance permet aussi a l’analyste de comprendre, de maniere plus generale, l’image que les membres du groupe ont d’eux-memes en tant que groupe.

During the course of a conversation in a social setting such as a party or dinner, if the conversation seems to be approaching a sensitive point or delicate area, the host or hostess will probably intervene to try and redirect the conversation. If they don’t succeed then the atmosphere is likely to become considerably more uncomfortable. During a group therapy session, things go in a very different way. It is possible to get into very delicate situations without bringing about this atmosphere of concern or agitation. On the contrary, people become more engaged, and, at the same time they continue to think and express their thoughts freely. At least a part of this behaviour is due to the fact that the analyst continually exercises his negative capability. The aim of this paper is to investigate this function.

Comment considerer la destructivite implicite dans l’enactment ? Est-ce une destructivite a l’etat potentiel ? Celle-ci peut-elle evoluer de diverses facons ? Est-ce une manifestation directe de l’instinct de mort ou le resultat de l’interaction d’un ensemble complexe de facteurs ? Cet article traite essentiellement de ces questions, mais aussi d’autres portant sur la definition du concept d’enactment et la facon de mieux affronter ces moments d’impasse analytique.

En repondant aux questions stimulantes de Paolo Cruciani, Claudio Neri evoque la fin des annees 1960 et ses rencontres avec Wilfred Bion, Francesco Corrao et Franco Basaglia. Il aborde ensuite diverses questions : differences et analogies entre la psychanalyse (duelle) et la psychotherapie de groupe, importance de la pensee de Bion pour la pratique clinique, resultats therapeutiques plus ou moins satisfaisants de l’analyse de groupe.

This paper will present a series of predominantly clinical observations concerning the lengthy work a patient carries out, with the help of the analyst, in order to achieve greater personal authenticity. When this work is drawing to a close and the patient has gained a degree of authenticity, this authenticity remains within him, almost without his realizing it. The power of authenticity is instead revealed through the patient's most intimate and important relationships. In the long term, the patient's authenticity also alters his perception of himself and of his role in the world. He feels more alive and less overcome by a sense of futility, if earlier this had been the case.

Freud presupposed that the group has one leader and only one. The Freudian view was that for the members of the group the group leader fills the role of the superego ideal. Bion, on the other hand, makes a distinction between ‘work-group mentality’ and ‘primitive mentality’. Each of these two mentalities at work in the group has its own corresponding leader. The head of the work group is an operative leader, a leader of thought. The head of the basic-assumption group embodies and expresses regressive, uncontrollable negative drives. This leader's individuality is peculiarly susceptible to obliteration by the basic-assumption group's leadership requirements. I have chosen to give the name of genius loci to a third figure who fosters the group members’ sense of belonging and identity, encourages participation and sharing, and manages to grasp the affective tonality of what is happening in the group. In the small analytic group the genius loci refers to a figure analogous to a leader, working with, in opposi...

The group members shall draw up a theory of the genesis of mental suffering, which is part of the group’s culture. This is an implicit theory. It has not been disseminated, organized and systematized. However, the group members make use of it. Its recognition is an important point of reference for the analyst. An analyst who is able to recognize its features and content will understand better how the group is progressing in its attempt to achieve health. The recognition of this theory also helps the analyst understand what image the group members have of themselves as a group.Keywords: Psychopathology, Psychoanalysis, Group psychotherapy, Psychological Field Theory, Group self-representation

The author makes two basic points, ones that have not been elucidated in the literature. The first is that when group associations coalesce, in some sort of unified way, they form in two levels. One level is the manifest theme that the therapist perceives and, in traditional group-as-a-whole approaches, interprets. The second level, the deeper one, is an emerging fantasy, that is, one that has yet to be defined. The existence of these two levels has clinical s significance. The classic group-as-a-whole approaches dealt only with the first level. Notably, such approaches often proved ineffective. The reason, according to my thesis, is that they failed to address the second, deeper level.

An old Sicilian saying goes as following: «U pesci fete du capu» which means that the corruption of the body – as the corruption of the government – starts from the head, from he who is in a positi...

The sedimentological features and the microbiofacies of the Cassian platforms (Late Ladinian-Carnian) of the Dolomites can be studied only on the basis of the socalled “Cipit boulders”, that are platform-derived olistoliths and clasts fed to the basin and escaped to the extensive dolomitization affecting the buildups. Our paper deals with the Cipit boulders occurring in the Punta Grohmann section (Wengen and S. Cassiano formations, Late Ladinian, Archelaus and Regoledanus Zones). The dominant microfacies are represented by boundstone, consisting of nearly 60% of micritic limestone occurring both as peloidal or aphanitic micrite, mostly organized into stromatolitic laminites of thrombolites. The skeletal organism (Tubiphytes, skeletal cyanobacteria, sphinctozoan sponges, etc.) represent only a minor component of the rock (usually less than 10%). Early cements are widespread and consist both of fan-shaped calcite (replacing former aragonite), bladed isopachous magnesian calcite and radial-fibrous calcite (neomorphic after Mg-calcite). The carbonate platforms from which the olistoliths derive were made up mainly of carbonate mud that underwent early lithification, as witnessed by the considerable amount of early cements: therefore they may be regarded to as mudmounds, and more precisely as microbial mud-mounds, due to the clearly accretionary, organic-controlled nature of most micrites. The micrites, subdivided into auto- and allomicrite on the basis of micromorphological and fabric characteristics, have been tested for epifluorescence. The results confirm the organic control on the deposition of automicrite, also in the cases in which a microbial influence is not obvious (i.e. aphanitic micrite without internal organization).

SUMMARY A feature of group life, its biography, is described which derives from the history of the group and which gives a unique character to the life of the group in the present. This inheritance is important in the present functioning of the group and for the experience and development of its members.

The fauna from Alpe di Specie (Seelandalpe) is one of the most important Carnian faunas in the world. Unfortunately it has never been found in situ; it is only known from erratic boulders embedded in peaty soil in the meadows of the Alpe di Specie, where they are distributed along a continuous beltabove the deep-water S. Cassiano Fm andbelow the shallow water Durrenstein Dolomite. Wide unexposed zones and strong tectonics make it difficult to determine their stratigraphic setting.

Unlike other concepts such as 'illusion', 'capacity to tolerate frustration' and 'libidinal investment', the concept of faith has not yet found a well-defined position in psychoanalytic theory. Bion focused on faith and placed it in an unusual context: scientific work. Through the Act of Faith a researcher can give some consistency to certain ideas, hunches or intuitions that may appear during observation, though he cannot represent them by existing theory. Through the Act of Faith an analyst can 'see', 'hear' and 'feel' those mental phenomena, the reality of which leaves no practising psychoanalysts in doubt, even if they cannot represent them by current formulations. In this paper, the author aims to expand Bion's proposals into the clinical and therapeutic fields. In the first part, the author examines how faith and trust overlap, and how they depart from each other; and he gives an example. Faith possesses an igniting and driving force which trust doesn't possess to the same extent. In the second part, the author looks at F as a psychic function of the analyst, which aids him in supporting a depressed and hopeless patient while waiting for the return of the patient s desire to live. In the final part, he focuses on F from the patient point of view and studies the transformations of F that may occur during an analysis.

We describe the sequence stratigraphic organization and the associated sedimentological characteristics of Cretaceous to Eocene slope and base-of-slope carbonate successions. The study area is located in the Gargano Promontory which belongs to the stable foreland of southern Italy. The succession consists of three superimposed depositional sequences separated by major unconformities. The upper two sequences are clear examples of sequence stratigraphic organization; in fact, they both start with huge megabreccia wedges (LST) followed upward by thin pelagic units (TST) and a thick package of calciturbidites and debrites that alternate with pelagic mudstone (HST). The Cretaceous highstand systems tract is clearly arranged in a number of coarsening-upward cycles while the Eocene one which also comprises a toplap shallow water unit, is not. The Gargano stratigraphic palimpsest and the entire margin of the Apulia Platform show remarkable similarities with present-day carbonate platform margins and slopes where irregular, convex-bankward embayments suggest large-scale failures. It is clear that classic sequence stratigraphic organization can result from simple platform dismantling, having no or little time relation with global sea-level fluctuations. In fact, as the margin failure (LST) interrupts the carbonate production, a period of starvation (TST) along the entire slope and base-of-slope follows necessarily. Finally, when the margin once again becomes active and productive, sediment exportation starts again and the system begins to prograde (HST).

La notion de champ rend plus complete la comprehension de certains aspects et dimensions de la situation analytique. Elle se differencie, en tout premier lieu, d’autres notions qui sont proches, mais qui ne coincident pas: atmosphere, cadre (setting), relation, tiers analytique. Elle est ensuite enrichie par l’integration de certaines idees de W.R. Bion: transformation et evolution en O. Dans la deuxieme partie du travail, la « notion elargie de champ » est introduite : elle associe la notion de champ aux idees de « fonction alpha » (capacite metabolique et d’elaboration) et de « fonction narrative » (« transformer les emotions en narrations », emotions ⇔ narrations). Des fragments cliniques de cas individuels et de groupe illustrent le caractere operatoire de cette notion.

Resume — L'auteur cherche a identifier le « modele implicite » de conduite du groupe chez W. R. Bion. Il se sert, a cet effet, moins des deux principaux ouvrages que Bion a consacres a l'analyse de la vie emotionnelle du groupe - a savoir Recherches sur les petits groupes (1961) et L'attention et l'interpretation (1970) - que d'une experience directe au cours d'une serie de seminaires que Bion a tenus a Rome en 1977.

The basinal San Cassiano Formation (Triassic, Dolomites, Italy) is interfingered with clinostratified megabreccia slope deposits of coeval carbonate platforms, and to a large extent is composed of metre-scale thickening, coarsening-upward cycles. These asymmetrical cycles, often representing bundles of five coarsening-upward sequences, are interpreted as platformbasin interactions governed by fourth- and fifth-order eustatic oscillations. According to this model, progradation of Triassic platforms of the Dolomites occurred mainly during fourthorder sea-level lowstands.

This article deals with the discussion of the role of the syndepositional cementation for the growth of the Middle Triassic pre-volcanic carbonate platforms of the Dolomites (Southern Alps, Northern Italy). The study is concentrated on the Marmolada Buildup, which escaped the facies destroying dolomitization which affected many surrounding platforms. The investigations took place within an almost isochronous uppermost Anisian palcogeographic transect, ranging from the platform-top to the margin and the upper slope. Methods used include geological mapping, sedimentological and paleontological studies, evaluation of the microfacies, as well as SEM and EDS epifluorescence analyses. The well bedded platform-top succession consists of intra-bioclast calcarenites and calcirudites, interbedded with subordinate boundstones, and organized in shallowing upward, meter scale depositional cycles, sometimes capped by subaerial surfaces. The platform margin belt is rich in boundstones and lacks a primary framework formed by organisms; metazoan skeletons form less then 5% of the rock volume. The outer margin and the uppermost slope are characterized by decimeter-scale boundstone blocks, coated and linked to each other by huge amounts of radiaxial fibrous calcite cements, arranged in concentric crusts. These cements (“evinospongiac”) represent the main component of the margin and upper slope facies. Epifluorescence analyses suggest the existence of abundant organic residual matter associated not only with the bioclasts and peloids, but also with the syndepositional cements. Organic matter likely played a significant role in carbonate cementation and was a key factor for the early lithification of the platform as well as for the sediment production. Minor element microanalyses reveal an uniform Mg content in different calcite types (2–4 Mole % MgCO3), independently from the primary nature of the components. Late diagenetic sparry calcites exhibit similar Mg values but no iron. These data point to a homogenization of minor element distribution, probably associated with a slow but long-lasting semi-closed fluid circulation, possibly related with the Neogene uplifting of the Dolomite Mountains.

The “Calcare di Mendicino” is a mixed carbonatesiliciclastic informal unit of Miocene (Late Tortonian-Early Messinian age), that crops out extensively in the northwestern part of the Calabria. In the Scannelle quarry near Belsito (Cosenza), four stratigraphic sections were studied to define the sedimentological and paleoecological setting. The carbonate body records the development of a deep-water coral bank characterized by a low-diverse community of azooxanthellate scleractinian (Oculina andDendrophyllia) and stylasterine hydrozoans colonies. Two main stages of bioconstruction development can be distinguished: a thicket and a bank stage. Among the biostromal dwellers the more common are bryozoans, echinoids, benthic foraminifers, gastropods, and bivalves. A higher content of planktonic foraminifers occur in the thicket stage. The coral bank flourished within the aphotic zone, with deep currents loaded with nutrients and siliciclastic sediments. The upper part of the “Calcare di Mendicino” carbonate body has been affected by a pervasive dolomitization destroying almost completely the sedimentary structures and the biofacies. The lower part, the main object of this paper, preserves the microfacies but it experienced a widespread recrystallization obliterating the primary geochemical characteristics. The diagenetic history, partly hidden, reveals three main stages: primary marine with isopachous fibrous cements, deep burial with cavities infilled by sparry calcite, and meteoric-phreatic with dog-tooth cements.

This paper is focused on the facies associations of an Early-Middle Norian stratigraphic succession cropping outin the Northern Calabria (Buonvicino, Cosenza). These carbonate deposits, pertaining to the Verbicaro Unit, represent a dolomitized platform characterized by a clear dominance of automicrites over skeletal metazoans. On the basis of the chronostatigraphic data and sedimentary evolution, two stratigraphic units have been distinguished: the Lower Unit (object of the present paper) and the Upper Unit. The Lower Unit consists of an Early-Middle Norian high-relief prograding carbonate platform. The Upper Unit is represented by Middle p.p.-Upper Norian basinal deposits. Three main facies associations, indicative of different depositional settings, have been identified. The inner platform facies association is characterized by automicrite (cauliflower-columnar subordinate planar stromatolites) associated with detrital carbonates (intraclastic breccia, bioclastic grainstone and packstone). Apeculiar facies is represented by megalodontid-bearing beds. Mud-cracked horizons and low-developed teepees occur quite frequently. The margin facies association is dominated by automicrite (planar to low relief stromatolites associated with thrombolitic fenestral boundstone) and detrital carbonates with subaerial exposure features. The slope facies association includes detrital carbonates (breccia/megabreccia) associated with serpulid/sphinctozoan bioconstructions and automicrite (planar stromatolites/thrombolitic boundstone). The whole carbonate body is completely dolomitized; nevertheless the morphology and microarchitecture of carbonate components (cements, grains and automicrite) is still clearly recognizable. The dolomite Mg content ranges from 40 to 48 mole%, sometimes reaching the stoichiometric value. Cements, primary and late, represent a minor component of the rock volume; they occur more frequently on the margin and upper slope setting. Quantitative tacies analyses lead to the following conclusions: The sedimentary facies and the low-diversity fossil associations seem to indicate a stressed marine environment; the platform margin probably flanked an intra-platform basin, not an open marine basin.

The Upper Jurassic to Eocene Apulia Platform margin and the eastward transition to the adjacent basinal deposits are well exposed in the Gargano Promontory (southern Italy), a carbonate block that is part of the slightly deformed foreland of the southern Apennine thrust belt. The long-term stratigraphy of this margin and slope transect is punctuated by five major dynamic phenomena that subdivide the succession into six second-order sequences. These events include (1) a Valanginian drowning unconformity, (2) an early Aptian-Albian drowning and demise of the platform, (3) late Albian-Cenomanian platform-margin failures, (4) a Santonian-Campanian retreat of the platform margin, and (5) Eocene uplift and platform-margin collapse. The first event is documented worldwide and is probably eustatic in origin. The second is concomitant with some oceanic anoxic events (OAE). The last three processes are probably related to foreland reaction to subduction and collision in the Dinarides and Hellenides thrust belts. The ultimate cause of the Albian-Cenomanian failures is more problematic. A worldwide eustatic regression is documented at this time, but regional geology seems to favor tectonic uplift.