The Unconscious and the Family is an exploration of the complex unconscious dynamics that shape family and couple links. Drawing on extensive clinical experience, Anna Maria Nicolò offers profound insights into the psychopathology present in these contexts, illustrating the theoretical framework with compelling case studies of couple conflicts, trauma, and psychotic disorders. Nicolò presents an innovative reinterpretation of psychoanalytic concepts as they apply to family and couple therapy, establishing a theoretical foundation in the first part of the book and detailing practical interventions in the second. The hypothesis of the existence of transpersonal disorders is gaining ground, particularly among couples dealing with violence and psychotic disorders. Special attention is given to diagnostic approaches, interpretation methods, transference dynamics, and the therapeutic use of the metaphor. Essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and mental health professionals working with families and couples, this volume fills a significant gap in the English-language literature on psychoanalytic approaches to family and couple therapy.
The Unconscious and the Family
Description
Table of Contents
Part 1: Understanding the Family
1. The Unconscious and the Family
2. Subjectual Links, Pathologies and Transpersonal Defences
3. The Family and Its Functioning
4. The Primal Scene in the Family
5. The Fraternal Complex and the Disturbing Stranger
6. The Couple from a Psychoanalytic Perspective
7. The Desire for a Child and Parenthood
8. Becoming a Father Today
9. The Transmission of Trauma in the Family
10. The Paranoid Elaboration of Mourning in the Family
11. Violent Couple Links
12. The Family with the Psychotic Patient as an Organisation of Traumatic Links
13. Denial, Negation and Interpersonal Links
14. Dreams and the Unconscious in the Couple and the Family
Part 2: Psychoanalytic Technique With Couples And Families
15. Diagnostic Assessment with the Family
16. Intrusions in the Setting
17. Transference with the Couple and the Family
18. Countertransference and Dreams in the Family
19. Interpretation in the Psychoanalysis of Couples and Families
20. Metaphors and the Process of Metaphorisation
21. Narration: Individual and Family Biographies as Therapeutic Tools
Index
Editors Biography
Anna Maria Nicolò, MD, child neuropsychiatrist, Training Analyst and Full Member of the Società Psicoanalitica Italiana (SPI) and International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), expert in child and adolescent psychoanalysis. Past President of the SPI. President of the International Association of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (IACFP). Chair of the IPA Publications Committee. She is a member of the Forum for Adolescence of the European Psychoanalytical Federation (FEP) Committee, of which she was Chair. Director of the journal Interazioni.
Reviews
“This book is of immense value to contemporary psychoanalysis. In one volume Anna Nicolò provides both an essential guide for those working therapeutically in the complex field of couples and families, and a compelling read for anyone interested in the ongoing development of psychoanalysis. With exceptional intellect and understanding from her many years of clinical work, she demonstrates a truly impressive knowledge of the field of psychoanalysis as a whole. While maintaining her psychoanalytic foundation, she produces undeniable evidence of how psychoanalysis with couples and families challenges our understanding of the nature of the individual unconscious itself – this is a real gift.”
Mary Morgan, Fellow, British Psychoanalytic Society, Senior Fellow, Tavistock Relationships, UK
“The Unconscious and the Family by Anna Maria Nicolò is a compelling and timely contribution to contemporary psychoanalysis. With remarkable clarity and depth, Nicolò invites the reader into the complex world of family and couple dynamics, illuminating unconscious links, transgenerational transmission, and the evolving functions of parenthood. The book moves seamlessly between theory and clinical practice, offering insights that resonate with the challenges of our time. It is both intellectually rigorous and clinically inspiring, encouraging us to rethink the nature of psychic life as inherently relational. An essential and engaging work for anyone interested in the psychoanalysis of families and couples.”
Elizabeth Palacios, Chair, Couple and Family IPA Committee (COFAP), IPA Training Analyst, GAEP (New Spanish Group) and APM, Spain
“Anna Nicolò’s groundbreaking book knits fundamental contributions to psychoanalytic and developmental theory with deep clinical experience with couples and families. Nicolo’s eloquent synthesis opens new horizons on how unconscious factors organize families in health and illness. An instant classic, this book will be critical to the growth of the seasoned clinician, the novice, and to all who plomb the enigmas of couple and families.”
David E. Scharff, Former chair, IPA Committee on Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, USA