The holding, a breeding ground of the Self

Reflecting on the pages of Joyce Slochower, Lorenzini questions the interminable polemics that have characterised the discussion of empathy, self-reference and the evolutionary deficit. He is convinced that there is a dangerous conceptual void at the basis of this Babel, which directly concerns the revolution that the psychologies of the Self and the relational movement itself have tried to implement: placing subjectivity at the centre of the human being's psychological life. For this reason he begins his discussion with the attempt to make clear some starting points on subjectivity and consciousness. He then proceeds with the thesis that the false dichotomy between holding and mutuality depends on the usual error of attributing subjectivity to the narrative level of consciousness. On the procedural level, holding and mutuality are reconciled and both contribute to create the breeding ground indispensable for the development of the patient's subjectivity.