Fenomenologia e psicoanalisi. Un incontro

Abstract

This article aims to describe the key points of phenomenological psychiatry, in particular the concepts of interpersonal encounter and empathy. The phenomenological approach has redefined the psychiatrist-patient relationship as an encounter during which the therapist prevalently addresses the subjective experiences of the patient, and although Freudian notions of transference and counter transference are recognized, the latter is re-interpreted as the phenomenological Mit-Dasein. The authors examine how psychoanalysis and phenomenology have been influencing each other over the last ten years which, as well as leading to a substitution of the concept of counter transference with that of empathy, is determining an evolution within psychoanalysis, from a classical perspective centred on the twin concepts of interpretation-insight, to a perspective influenced by a phenomenological tradition which pays much more attention to the patient’s narration of experiences rather than on elaborating any unconscious conflict.