During the second week of April APdeBA has enjoyed the visit of Anna Nicolo,

from the Italian Society, who has come to Buenos Aires thanks to the support of

CAPSA. The programme has been very intensive and involved different kind of

activities and audiences.

On Tuesday 7th April, Doctor Nicolo supervised an adolescent case at our

society, presented by Florencia Tchina, a member of our society. The session

was chaired by Dr Carlos Moguillansky. The case included initial assessment

material and further sessions of the first year of treatment and we were able to

discuss around the importance of considering the specificity of psychoanalysis

with young patients, the importance of leading the adolescent to take

responsibility for his/her analytic treatment, involving the patient actively in the

analytic process while patient and analyst are both co-constructing the setting.

Nicolo ´s perspectives were clearly illustrated clinically since the patient

presented had had two previous consultations which had not succeeded. The

audience participated also sharing ideas in a very rich and respectful

atmosphere. The session was opened to other IPA and non IPA members, as

were all the activities of the programme.

In the evening she presented her paper “ Fantasie, fantasticherie e loro

evoluzioni negli adolescenti gravi e nei pazienti borderline”. This lecture took

place within the University Institute of Mental Health (IUSAM) and it was chaired

by Dr Rodolfo Moguillansky the Dean. In this case, Psychology students from

the Salvador University were part of the audience. It was a theoretical and

clinical paper which richly illustrated how to understand and deal with

breakdown during adolescence. Our visitor stressed the importance of

respecting defences in order to prevent worsening the psychotic

disorganization. She also underlined the need of distinguisihing between

breakdowns during adolescence from structural psychotic breakdowns during

adulthood and the need to consider adolescence as a new opportunity towards

development and re-organization. No less important was Nicolo ´s assumption

of the importance of seeing the family and widening the individual approach with

family treatment if needed.

On Wednesday morning we left our neighborhood towards San Isidro, an

important and extended suburb in the north of the city. Dr Nicolo ´s presentation

was organized and co-sponsored by the City Hall of San isidro, and the Mental

Health Center Ramon Carrillo (Public Hospital) where ApdeBA has been

carrying out an outreach programme for the last four years. This event was

addressed to non IPA members, mainly psychologists, psychotherapists, social

workers, students and educators from the northern area of the city. Dr Nicolo

was received personally by the Secretary of Childhood and Family of the City

Hall in a very warm and distinguished manner.

She presented a case of hers about a very disturbed 16 years old girl and we all

enjoyed her outstanding capacity to transmit vividley psychoanalytic core ideas

to non psychoanalysts, most of them working in a public setting with very ill

patients and social problems. We can say that this experience with more than

80 people attending, reinforced a possitive transference of the community

towards Psychoanalysis. People were really very thankful that we let them know

at their place Anna Nicolo and her excellent capacity to make contact with

them.

After a quick lunch we went back to APdeBA for the Conference on “The body

and pathological defences in adolescence” at the Infants and Adolescents

Department . Dr. Anna Nicolo presented her paper to a full audience. Senior

analysts, as well as training analysts and young students attended Nicolo’s

lecture. First, Dr. Nicolo explained some theoretical concepts regarding

psychopathology in adolescence. Then, she illustrated these ideas with a very

interesting clinical case. After her presentation the discussion was opened to

the public. Questions about the clinical case were raised, giving Dr. Nicolo the

opportunity to expand her ideas.

Approximately 60-80 people attended each of these activities.

During Thursday, Friday and Saturday the “First International Congress on

Psychoanalysis with Families and Couples – Perspectives around the world”,

co-jointly organized by the IPA and the FEPAL committees on Family and

Couple Psychoanalysis was held in Buenos Aires. More than 250 people

attended to the congress. On the Thursday pre congress working day Dr Nicolo

presented a very interesting case. With the help of a case history she illustrated

the importance of working on the biographical narrative shared during family

sessions, in particular on the traumatic memories that hamper the organization

of each member’s individual story, on the explicit and implicit memories that

may be unknown to some members but that affect the organization of the self.

The case presentation was interesting also for the use of variable settings

according to the family’s needs. The case was discussed by Janine Puget from

Buenos Aires and by Richard Zeitner from Washington DC during a 3 hours

panel that was co-chaired by Susana Muszkat from Sao Pablo and Silvia

Resnizky from Buenos Aires. The audience was very stimulated by these

presentations and participated actively in a very fruitful exchange of ideas which

enabled sharing different points of view which were expressed by colleagues

from all the IPA regions attending the conference. During the rest of the

conference Anna ´s spontaneous contributions were also very welcome.

Argentinian Malbec wine and empanadas were also a tasty ingredient during

our personal and affective encounter with her.

A wonderful experience that we all thank.

Reporting:

Monica Vorchheimer, Juliana Oelsner, Viviana Rosciani, Cristina Szekasy

(APdeBA)