Italian Psychoanalytical Association (A.I.Psi.) 

   
Editorial Project: Ignazio Cannas (President of AIPsi) Jona Kozdine (Member of AIPsi)
Translation: Luigi Maccioni (Directof of Istitute of Training and Full Member AIPsi), Giovanna Ambrosio (Full Member AIPsi) 

The Italian Psychoanalytical Association (A.I.Psi.) is a Component Society of the International Psycho-Analytical Association. The venue of the Society and the Institute is in Rome and its membership is distributed throughout Italy.
The Italian Psychoanalytical Association was founded in 1992 mainly by senior analysts of the Italian Psychoanalytical Society (SPI) including Prof. Emilio Servadio, a pioneer of psychoanalysis in Italy. Its foundation was the result of a split within the SPI for essentially ethical and only subsequently institutional reasons. AIPsi's history is therefore a short one since before 1992, these two IPA Societies shared a common background; in fact many of the AIPsi founding members had been active participants in the SPI's institutional life and had held office in a variety of positions.

The Italian Association of psychoanalysis was founded under the auspices of the late prof. Joseph Sandler, at the time the President of the IPA, and the activities of the new Association began under the auspices of an IPA Sponsoring Committee composed of Drs. Adam Limentani (Chairman), Yolanda Gampel and Gemma Jappe, three distinguished and internationally known analysts.  


The first President of the AIPsi was Prof. Adriano Giannotti who unfortunately died prematurely in 1994. After his death Dr. Jacqueline Amati Mehler was elected President followed by Andreas Giannakoulas and Carlo Vittorio Todesco, Jorge Canestri, Adolfo Pazzagli and Giovanna Ambrosio. At the present moment Ignazio Cannas is the President of the AIPsi.  


The main purpose of the A.I.Psi. has been to construct a Training Institute that would offer to candidates a broad, theoretically and clinically integrated training and learning programme, to which all the Training Analysts as well as Full Members contribute according to their specific energies and competences. 

An essential point has been that of limiting the training function by statute, so that it is regulated according to criteria that will prevent the risks of distortion in the direction of personal power; for example, age limits, limited number of candidates for training analysis, continuous monitoring of students by the whole Training Committee which meets regularly every month. Regular meetings of the Director of the Institute are held with the candidates.

An important point of AIPsi policies has been to establish the principle of permanent training aimed not only at offering continuing opportunities for theoretical-clinical learning to younger members, but to constitute for the older members also an area of reciprocal guarantee, of open discussion on integration of scientific and institutional themes.
 
The AIPsi attributes great value to scientific activities as a permanent opportunity for meetings, when possible hosting guests of other IPA Societies, organizing interdisciplinary meetings as an exercise ground for communication and discussion, both in contents and in methodology, linking everyday clinical practice to a common theoretic field in all its articulations and diversifications. This is an attempt to encourage a rich and intense societal life as an essential premise for pursuing another of our basic objectives: that of a constant open and international exchange with other IPA Societies.


Consultation service
As a way of serving the community, AIPsi offers a free consultation service to the public. Anybody who is interested should call the Association to request a colloquy.

Library
The Association has benefitted from three very important book donations by Dr. Stefano Fajrajzen, Dr. Bernie Pacella, Past President of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and Prof. Servadio's remarkable collection of books and an invaluable historical archive for which AIPsi has been granted funds from the Beni Culturali in order to catalogue them. At the moment the library, which is open to the public by appointment, has over 10,000 books, journals and reviews.

Journal of the association
Founded in 1997, Psicoanalisi is the bi-annual journal of A.I.Psi. publishing papers related to specific psychoanalytical clinical and theoretical issues. Nowadays, when the specificity of psychoanalysis risks being diluted or confused with alternative therapies derived from psychoanalysis, or claims to test its effectiveness and reliability by applying methods suited to other branches of science, Psicoanalisi aims to highlight and develop what is specific to this discipline. The journal is divided into two sections

The first section includes essays that, although the authors may already be known in Italy, have not yet been translated into Italian, as well as essays written by authors who are less known in Italy, in order to guarantee diffusion of the psychoanalytic thinking of the three regions of the IPA (Europe, North America, South America).The second section includes papers by Italian analysts anonymously peer reviewed by a board of qualified analysts belonging to other IPA Societies.
Psicoanalisi also publishes essays considered to be classical papers in the field of psychoanalysis that are reviewed and discussed by one or two colleagues of different theoretical orientations, and it includes a section with reviews of the international psychoanalytical literature.

Training Institute and Seminars
The AIPsi follows a tripartite Eitingon training model: Training analysis, Seminars and Supervisions. Candidates are first selected before starting their analysis with a training analyst who they may choose among those available. The candidate's analysis remains totally private and there is no contact at all with the Institute until the candidate is admitted to a second selection after a minimum of two years of analysis. When candidates are admitted, they start the Seminars, organized in classes, lasting four years in which an intense basic study of Freudian texts is integrated with post-Freudian authors. Among AIPsi members there are classic Freudians, Kleinians and Winnicottians, which makes scientific meetings quite lively.

Supervision
As from the second year of course, candidates are expected to treat their first training case by carrying out an analysis under supervision. The treatment shall be carried out over at least four analytic sessions per week. In the third year, with the permission of their Supervising Analyst and the Training Committee, trainees are expected to start their second training case under the supervision of a different training analyst. Supervisions must be conducted by AIPsi training analysts and are held once a week. Each supervision covers at least two years of analytic work.

Seminars
They consist of theoretical-clinical courses, practical-clinical apprenticeship, supervisions, and participation in scientific meetings, conference and seminars organized by AIPsi. Candidates are expected to attend the scientific meetings organized once a month by AIPsi and included in the total training number of 500 hours per year, as well as any meeting or congress organized by AIPsi, the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) or the European Psychoanalytical Federation.
The practical-clinical apprenticeship is held in public health services or clinics for mental diseases.  

Psychoanalysis and culture
For AIPSi it is very important to dialogue with other cultural fields. Most of our members deal with culture, art, literature and cinema.
These we remember: 

Graziella Magherini, was particularly interested about the relationship between art and psychoanalysis. She wrote different papers on Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Giovanni Bellini and she published “La sindrome di Stendhal” (Stendhal’s syndrome): the traveller’s malaise in front of art’s greatness.

Simona Argentieri published several books and papers about the relationship between psychoanalysis and community, paying particular attention to literature and cinema. She was the curator of a television program “The chamber of unconscious” based on the relationship between cinema and psychoanalysis. “Freud a Hollywood” (Freud in Hollywood) was a book she wrote of great interest among filmmakers, psychoanalysts and movie fans.

Matteo De Simone is particularly interested about creativeness, creative processes and creative inhibition. He has been organizing, since several years, an interdisciplinary conference in the splendid Monastery of Fonte Avellana (in the Marche region) were meet together, on specific issues, writers, poets, artists, musicians, philosophers, scientists, architects, performers, psychoanalysts and practicing religious of different religions.






Contacts
E-mail: [email protected] 
Web: www.aipsi.it 
Facebook: Associazione Italiana di Psicoanalisi/A.I.Psi.