Physiology of Human Birth and Mental Disease DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82216

particular the Freudian one, according to which there is no major difference between hallucinations and dreams. These are considered as incoherent daily remnant or 'satisfaction of desire' [29]. According to the psychotherapy based on Theory of Birth, the diagnosis is always a dynamic process and must be related to the personal moment that the patient is experiencing. As it is susceptible to changes and modifications, it should be considered neither as a label nor as a conviction. In the psychotherapeutic relation proposed by Massimo Fagioli with its clinical method, the therapist becomes the object of a relationship with someone who seeks cure. In this relationship the patient will manifest all the unhealthy dynamics that affect his/her personal life. The therapist's interest is particularly focused on the interhuman conscious and non-conscious relationship that arises during the setting. 'Frustrating' unhealthy dynamics is a tool for the cure. In other words, it is fundamental for the therapist to verbalize and pretend that the patient sees and comprehends these dynamics. Only in this way the patient will become able to refuse them, by making them disappear. The patient can achieve this by finding in the relationship with the therapist the vitality that he/she had previously lost in unhealthy relationships. The patient will find that 'disappearance fantasy' experienced at birth and will become able to address this toward those unhealthy interior dimensions. In this rapport, it is crucial that the patient realizes a separation from those relationships that impedes a more profound change. In contrast with what happens in the everyday life, the therapist can interpret and frustrate these dynamics. Moreover, the therapist who was previously cured cannot be confused or attacked by these violent dimensions because of his/her personal vitality and creativity. In this sense the patient does not have the power to think of being omnipotently able to destroy

Psychology of Health - Biopsychosocial Approach

the other. By doing so the patient avoids experiencing a sense of emptiness connected with the annulment pulsion. Furthermore, the therapeutic relationship addresses negative feelings, reducing the suicidal risks and self-destructiveness of depressed patients. The patient starts realizing that it is stimulating and beneficial to maintain a relationship with someone who is not psychically violent. In the case of psychotic patients, it can be crucial for them to experience the constant presence and interest of a human being that proposes a valid human relationship. Another fundamental point in the therapeutic work is the conceptualization of a 'hurtful absence' and the critic of the therapist's absence. For further references we suggest Chapter 1 in [1]. A major point is also the idea that the patient is active in the psychotherapeutic work. Facing another human being who has not lost its original identity and is able to realize a separation from another human relationship without annulment or negation is a crucial realization for the patient. This dynamic encourages the patient to understand and investigate how this could possibly occur. On a wider scale, this dynamic also happened in the Analisi Collettiva's experience. A brief and effective story of this phenomenon and its cultural implications can be found in a writing by Massimo Fagioli [30]. This method is used in much smaller groups and also in individual psychotherapy by many psychiatrists and psychotherapists that in addition to an academic formation in psychiatry and psychology

have followed this story and experience firstly as patients.

In this chapter the physiology and pathology of the mind have been discussed according to the Theory of Birth by Massimo Fagioli. A particular attention was given to the following topics: the moment of birth, the mind physiological development and the onset of mental illness. Three are the most fundamental concepts. Firstly we must clearly define the dynamics of human birth physiology in which the

8. Conclusion

20

newborn biological reality, by 'coming to light' immediately creates a merged nonconscious mental reality. Secondly, mental illnesses are an acquired condition affecting the irrational non-conscious dimension which main cause is to be found in social and human disappointing relationships lacking in affection. Lastly, it is possible to pursue a psychotherapeutic treatment based on this theory. This psychotherapy is based on a conscious and non-conscious therapeutic relationship between a healthy human being—the therapist who offers his/her own mental health and human reality as well as professional skills—and one who becomes ill because of a deficiency of conscious and non-conscious affection in human relationships. In particular this is a medical act, which has the intent to cure. Furthermore the physiology of birth is a dynamic equal for all human beings. Consequently the dynamics arising from it are universal. The Human Birth Theory constitutes a solid theoretical apparatus which has had significant effects on mental health care activities and has huge implications not only on the anthropological view of man itself and the ideas concerning its nature and human sociality, but also on bioethics [31]. Thanks to the Human Birth Theory, the unconscious is not unknowable or unmodifiable any more: non-conscious reality is a fundamental part of human reality which can be known and function in harmony with consciousness and, if altered, can be cured.
