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Taking Oneself Playfully: Narrative of a Psychoanalyst

Author(s) : Marta Badoni

Reviews and Endorsements

Marta Badoni's book communicates all the vitality, originality and maturity, at once confident and courageous, of contemporary Italian psychoanalysis: speaking of children, adolescents, adults and institutions, her voice as an innovative, competent, unprejudiced and playful analyst accompanies us towards an integrative vision of our discipline. This volume conveys, in a very personal and harmonious way, something new and substantial that was missing in our specialistic literature.
Stefano Bolognini, Past-President of the International Psychoanalytical Association

The author tells different stories of psychoanalytic work with children and parents: theories are used as elements of an interactive play in session, which each time generates solutions of the technique tailor-made to each little patient. The different chapters are like pieces of a puzzle that generates a vivid and unified image of the psychoanalytic treatment in developmental age, that is, always. Special attention is given to the dimension of time, as a silent ally in the process of growth of the body and psyche.
Anna Ferruta, psychoanalyst, Full Member IPA, co-author of Extending the Psychoanalytic Listening Paradigm

It is to these pages that Marta Badoni has entrusted her illuminating experience of discovery and knowledge under the sign of the lived experience of astonished wonder in discovering, crossing the Simplon Pass, the Rhone valley, illuminated by the luminous blade of the sun.
From a story that Marta told me, I find the other essential element of her work, independence. In the evenings, after the days of study meetings with psychoanalysts from Eastern Europe, in which Marta participated with great interest and much success, the participants spontaneously settled into small groups characterized by affiliations to schools and currents. And Marta, who was not in any group, was the curiosity of everyone. Marta was a very clear example of the psychoanalyst for whom the definition of psychoanalyst is sufficient. She knows and shares all the contributions of Authors and Schools but does not exhaust herself in the streams of affiliations and does not deviate from the essence of psychoanalysis, maintaining both the ability to illuminate and independence.
Giuseppe Di Chiara, past president of the Italian Psychoanalytical Society. Former training analyst at the Training institute of the Italian Psychoanalytical Society

An original, independent, thoughtful book that stays with and transforms the reader. It recounts what it means to listen to oneself while listening to a patient, to feel one's own body while feeling the other’s, to question one's own and the other’s subjectivity. Badoni’s movingly written clinical reports highlight the contribution of child analysis to psychoanalysis. The book weaves the personal and professional life and commitment to transmitting psychoanalysis of a passionate psychoanalyst, eager to learn from her patients.
Chiara Cattelan, child psychyatrist, SPI and IPA full member and training analyst, child analyst

A truly fascinating book that seems to capture the essence of the psychoanalytic experience, expertly mixing theory and personal experience. Marta Badoni's approach seems to invite the reader to a journey of introspection, pushing him to reflect on his own existence and his inner path. The tension towards complexity and the "unsaturated" suggests a dynamic and open perspective of psychoanalysis, capable of embracing the nuances of the human condition. The idea of "unexpected guests" and unexpected meanings further enriches the narrative, making it not only a theoretical work, but also a deeply human and relational work.
Cristina Saottini, Membro Ordinario Società Psicoanalitica Italiana

A book to be savored slowly, also to not blur the many precise references to psychoanalysts, both classical and contemporary, who have provided significant theoretical and technical contributions to the themes developed in the text. A book that also has the merit of introducing the non-Italian reader to the richness of the polyphonic character of Italian psychoanalysis. A personal travel notebook, dense with a vital, curious mental attitude, capable of inducing vital curiosity, that makes one think.
Laura Colombi, Supervising and Training Analyst for Child Adolescent and Adult Psychoanalysis (SPI,IPA)