Psychoanalysis of Psychotic Patients; a Patient Context Approach

Abstract

In this papers we underline some points concerning the psychotic patient‘s context in psychoanalysis, and at the descriptive level we point out some ways —among the many other possible ones— to enter upon more complex situations. We work as a psychiatric care team external to the hospital, a team flexible in the way it is made up and it operates. Formally, the smallest team is one made up of a psychiatrist and social worker, both with personal psychoanalytical therapy and training. Functionally, the team works at helping the psychotic patient‘s context in psychoanalysis. On the one hand, the team works with the individual psychofarmacological aspect and the patient‘s personal reality in the outside world. On the other hand, so as to work with the set of forces involved within and outside of the family group, the team uses not only psychoanalytical concepts but also others derived from theories of systems and communication.