Anna Maria Ferraro

Dis-Identity: New Forms of Identity and Psychopathology—Socioanthropological Changes and Self-Development

The passage from modernity to postmodernity deeply upset the group dimension, and, consequently, personal identity itself. Transformations involving the entire planet, socioanthropological changes our society had to cope with, are producing a change in the dynamics of identity formation and the appearance of new psychopathological figures. The loss of cohesion of the sense of belonging and the weak internalization process of the elements that form the individual identity (cultural, linguistic, religious traditions, etc.) draw an essentially uncertain and temporary existence. Drawing on some themes of subjectual group analysis theory of personality, the article proposes the concept of dis-identity as key to read ongoing psychic changes.

Mafia perception in relation to sicilian teenagers' moral disengagement and value orientation the role of educational and family contexts

This article aims at providing a critical review of the main studies about Mafia in a theoretical psychological and socio-anthropological framework, and investigating the perception of the phenomenon in relation to moral disengagement and values orientation in two groups of Sicilian teenagers, living in contexts with different Mafia density. Today Mafia is represented as a socio-psychological phenomenon, which has managed to make culture, community, family, and individuals coincide; it is founded on an individualistic social conception according to which violence is the strongest form of self-achievement.

A metaphor for the group analysis

The clinical practice and the theoretic elaboration are two activities that require a clear epistemological framework, a methodological severity and also a suitable integration with the mythopoeic aspects of human existence. With particular reference to these last, the article suggests some considerations useful for the comprehension of the group therapeutic experience, through the allegorical use of the features, and the historical and mythical vicissitude of the Mediterranean Sea. Sea that, thanks to its morphological climatic characteristics, as well as to its evocative faculties give us some starting points for thinking about the therapeutic work in the long term groups.