In 1972, Psychiatrist Massimo Fagioli in Death Instinct and Knowledge, discovers the dynamics of human birth at the origin of psychic life, which emerges from the union between cerebral substance of the retina, a biological reality, and light. This dynamic underlies the acquisition of language, a specifically human characteristic. The child then, through living a relationship with another human being, transforms the image of the perceived object into a verbal symbol 1, by way of a psycholinguistic process that is distinctive of all human beings 2. Fagioli writes: “We can consider word “No” as a pure form of symbol creation, that is, of verbal thought” 3 . The Human Birth Theory, developed by Fagioli, enables us to understand how the affective reality of a newborn can feel a sound associated with a word, intuiting the deeper meaning, and the corresponding pulsion dynamic.
The terms “Negation” and “Refusal” refer to two opposite psychic dynamics. “The formula for refusing sexual investment is saying ‘No’. The formula of death instinct and negation is saying ‘Iti s not’” 4.
During the 1950s Noam Chomsky 5 develops the Innate Theory 6, where he hypothesizes that every individual, from birth, possesses a species-specific innate biological device, called Language Acquisition Device (LAD) 7, which allows the child to acquire and produce language.
The Innate Theory does not allow for distinction between the words “Negation” and “Refusal”,which are auditory signs associated with an arbitrary meaning often resulting as superimposable in common language.
In 1925 Sigmund Freud affirms in his work, “Die Verneinung” (“Negation”): “The repressed content of a representation or thought can penetrate into consciousness on the condition that it allows itself to be denied” 8. Negation would then be a conscious defense mechanism with which content deemed unacceptable to the conscience would be declared untrue.
Instead, for Fagioli negation is, “the mentalization of envy, the transformation of hatred into an altered idea/image” 9: a dynamic of thought without conscience that has fallen ill through disappointing human relationships, beginning from the first years of life; the affection of hatred leads to an altered unconscious image of what is intuited as valid in the other 10. Fagioli’s discovery is the fundamental principle in curing mental illness through psychotherapy and the interpretation of unconscious thought within dream images.
“How were you able to understand the language of dreams which do not have the words of articulated is, seeing or thinking something it was not. It is seeing what is not human in an individual, to verbalize it with articulated language, and refuse it 11.
The clinician, through the medical approach underlying the diagnosis, prognosis, and hypothesis of a cure, establish a transference relationship with the patient. It occurs in multiple settings and with varying degrees of clinical severity 12. In fact, in every context, hospital, outpatient, private practice, the therapist makes a diagnosis while listening to the patient’s language as he recounts experiences or dream images, and through the observation of body movement.
Clinician’s response, the cure, will have the interview at its core, as a focal moment of the therapeutic relationship. The articulated language used will change in function of the therapeutic situation in which one is operating, from more coercive interventions to the interpretation of dream images, always grasping the patient’s annulment or negation of the relationship, refusing the no -human, the mental illness 13.
Notes
1 (a) Cfr. Fagioli, M. (2010). Istinto di morte e conoscenza (1972). Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni, p. 221; (b) Fagioli, M.(2019), Death instinct and knowledge. Rome: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni, p. 163.
2 In this process of verbalization –Fagioli writes – the image is lost, the image disappears. From this disappearance […]another psychic realization is derived, verbal thought. The acquisition of symbols […] in other words, at a different level,that which happened at birth, when the newborn’s disappearance fantasy created the image of the intrauterine condition,happens again. Now, this disappearance of the image leads to the creation of verbal thought. Cfr. Ivi (b), pp. 164-165.
3 Cfr. Fagioli, M. (2010). Istinto di morte e conoscenza (1972). Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni, p. 166.
4 Cfr. Fagioli, M. (2011). La marionetta e il burattino. Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni, p. 111.
5 Abram Noam Chomsky (Philadelphia, December 7, 1928) is a philosopher, linguist, academic, cognitive scientist,communication theorist, political activist, and American essayist. As professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology), he is recognized as the founder of Generative-Transformational Grammar, oftenreferred to as the most important contribution to theoretical linguistics of the twentieth century. From:https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky.
6 Cfr. Guasti, M.T. (2007), L’acquisizione del linguaggio. Un’introduzione. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore, pp. 54 -57.
7 Through LAD (Language Acquisition Device) the writers make reference to a biological program, consisting of a seriesof grammarrules, which allow one to generate infinite sentences, starting from a finite number of words acquired throughexperience. The units of language can be combined in potentially infinite orders, giving rise to different meanings. Amonglinguistic properties, the writers highlight: (1). Discretion (sounds and words have a discreet character); (2). Arbitrariness(the relationship between sign and meaning is conventional); (3). Creativity (the very possibility of combining discreetelements in infinite ways). Cfr. Ivi, pp. 5-7.
8 The repressed content of a representation or thought can penetrate the consciousness on the condition it can allow itselfto be denied. Negation is a way to gain awareness of the repressed content, in truth it is already a revocation of repression ,but certainly not an acceptance of it. Here we see how the intellectual function is separated from the affective process”.Cfr. Freud, S. (1981). La negazione e altri scritti teorici (1925). Milano: Bollati Boringhieri, p.65.
9 Cfr. Colamedici, D., Masini, A., & Roccioletti, G. (2011). La medicina della mente. Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni, p.368.
10 Example of Negation brought forth by Fagioli during a lecture at the University of Chieti. Cfr. Fagioli, “I dreamt thatthis beautiful little girl in a red shirt was short, fat, and old” in M. (2019). Das Umbewusste. L’inconoscibile. Lezioni2003. Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni.
11 Cfr. Fagioli, M. (2018). Left 2015. Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni, p. 251.
12 Amici, T., Di Gianfrancesco, E., Giampa , A. (2019). Urgenze in psichiatria come e quando intervenire. Roma: L’Asinod’Oro Edizioni.
13 Bilardi G., Solaroli S., Testa L., (2019). La psicoterapia. Cura e guarigione della malattia mentale. L’Asino D’OroEdizioni.
References
- Amici, T., Di Gianfrancesco, E., Giampà, A. (2019). Urgenze in psichiatria come e quando intervenire. Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni.
- Bilardi G., Solaroli S., Testa L., (2019). La psicoterapia. Cura e guarigione della malattia mentale. L’Asino D’Oro Edizioni.
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- Fagioli, M. (2007). Fantasia di sparizione. Lezioni 2007. Roma: L’Asino d’oro Edizioni.
- Fagioli, M. (2010). Istinto di morte e conoscenza (1972). Roma: L’Asino d’oro Edizioni.
- Fagioli, M. (2011). La marionetta e il burattino. Roma: L’Asino d’oro Edizioni.
- Fagioli, M. (2018). Left 2015. Roma: L’Asino d’oro Edizioni.
- Fagioli, M. (2019). Death instinct and knowledge. Rome: L’Asino d’oro Edizioni.
- Fagioli, M. (2019). Das Umbewusste. L’inconoscibile. Lezioni 2003. Roma: L’Asino d’oro Edizioni.
- Fagioli, M. (2020). Una depressione. Roma: L’Asino d’oro Edizioni.
- Fagioli, M. (2021). La psichiatria come psicoterapia. Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni.
- Fagioli, M. (2021). La psichiatria esiste?. Roma: L’Asino d’Oro Edizioni.
- Freud, S. (1981). La negazione e altri scritti teorici (1925). Milano: Bollati Boringhieri.
- Guasti, M. T. (2007). L’acquisizione del linguaggio. Un’introduzione. Milano: Raffaello CortinaEditore.
- Mangini, E. (1988). Lezioni sul pensiero freudiano. LED-Edizioni universitarie di Lettere Economia e Diritto: Padova.
