Antonino Ferro (eBook)

This book provides a clear, thorough, and accessible introduction to the work of Antonino Ferro and draws on the clinical vignettes that punctuate his writings to show how Ferro has built on Bion s revolutionary achievements to develop a distinctive, game-changing version of field theory in psychoanalysis. The book clarifies the phenomenological insight that the analyst and the patient together generate an ever-evolving, intersubjective field. Rather than the supposed psychology of the individual, it is this populous and multidimensional field, a co-created in-between rich in characters and stories, that is to be explored and elaborated. The primary points of access to this new multiverse are dream, reverie, metaphor, and imagination. A radical Negative Capability is called for, not least to help dissolve co-constructed bastions obstructing the field s expansion. The book sketches out the Italian and international context in which Ferro developed his thinking and addresses some key critical questions. It concludes that Ferro s life s work, which marries theoretical rigour with a revitalising increase in playfulness and freedom of response, is a transformational force within psychoanalysis and a major catalyst in its evolution. This important volume is rewarding reading for beginning and seasoned analysts alike, as well as for psychotherapists, counsellors, humanities scholars, and anyone interested in psychoanalysis.