The present paper aims at discussing issues concerning the clinical psychoanalysis of psychoses. After observing that, from the outset, the classical psychoanalysis turned out inadequate to the treatment of psychoses, the author proposes a reflection on possible reasons for this inadequacy. Based on the idea that, in psychoanalysis, theory and practice stand side by side, he tries to show that such inadequacy lies in the fact that the classical psychoanalytic method is grounded on a theoretical conception of the formation of the unconscious that fails to satisfactorily explain what takes place in the psychoses. The author’s hypothesis is that such conception does not take into account the preponderant role of the parental unconscious in this process. In his opinion, therefore, there is more to this issue than a simple method adequacy: a paradigm shift is needed to allow a reorientation of both the theory and the technique, from a decentralized viewpoint on the formation of the unconscious.
Psycho-analysis; psychosis; unconscious; clinical method