PSYCHIC TRANSFORMATIONS THROUGH THE RORSCHACH: JUAN, AN ADOLESCENT NOT A DON JUAN!

ABSTRACT

Adolescence is a stage of development that is characterized by the presence of important psychic transformations that form the base of the processes of identity and identification. In the current social context, the ability to integrate cultural differences is an imperative from a social and emotional standpoint, not only for adolescents, but anyone who has a relationship with them, be they parents, teachers and health technicians. In this article, the author seeks to carry out two-fold analysis: (1) Present the psychotherapeutic work conducted with Juan, a 17-year-old adolescent, during which it is possible to observe the changes inherent to the construction of his identity and identification, presented here with inspiration from a Spanish literary classic, Don Juan; (2) The employment of the Rorschach test, as an instrument granting privileged access to the subject’s inner world, which allows for a singular understanding of the psychic transformations involved in the process of becoming an adolescent. Applying a Rorschach test in this fashion is an innovative approach to understanding the psychic underpinnings involved, thereby enhancing clinical intervention. In Juan’s case, it was possible to look beyond his clinical diagnosis, shedding new light on his psychic abilities, favoring the construction of a new position, one more adult and one evidenced in improved academic performance, interpersonal relationships, and family dynamics. This clinical work was further enabled by theoretical frameworks that emphasize the processes of communication and symbolization.

Keywords:
Adolescence; psychotherapy; Rorschach

RESUMO

A adolescência é uma fase do desenvolvimento que se caracteriza pela presença de importantes transformações psíquicas que constituem a base dos processos de identidade e de identificação. No contexto social atual, a capacidade de integrar as diferenças culturais é um imperativo do ponto de vista social e emocional, não só para os adolescentes, mas para todos os que com eles se relacionam, sejam pais, professores e técnicos de saúde. Neste artigo, a autora procura realizar uma dupla análise: (1) Apresentar o trabalho psicoterapêutico realizado com Juan, um adolescente de 17 anos, durante o qual é possível observar as mudanças inerentes à construção da sua identidade e dos processos de identificação, inspirando-se num clássico literário espanhol, Don Juan; (2) A utilização do Rorschach, como instrumento de acesso privilegiado ao mundo interior do sujeito, que permite uma compreensão singular das transformações psíquicas presentes no processo de tornar-se adolescente. A utilização do Rorschach desta forma é uma abordagem inovadora para compreender os processos psíquicos envolvidos, melhorando a intervenção na clínica. No caso de Juan, foi possível ver além do seu diagnóstico clínico, lançando novos olhares sobre as suas capacidades psíquicas, favorecendo a construção de uma postura mais adulta, visível no seu desempenho académico, nas relações interpessoais e na dinâmica familiar. Esse trabalho clínico só foi possível graças aos referenciais teóricos que enfatizam os processos de comunicação e de simbolização.

Palavras-chave:
Adolescência; psicoterapia; Rorschach

RESUMEN.

La adolescencia es un periodo de desarrollo que se caracteriza por la presencia de importantes transformaciones que están en la base de los procesos de identidad y de identificación. En el contexto social actual, la capacidad de integrar las diferencias culturales es un imperativo desde el punto de vista social y emocional, no solo para los adolescentes, sino para cualquier persona que tenga relación con ellos, ya sean padres, docentes y técnicos de salud. En este artículo, el autor busca realizar un doble análisis: (1) Presentar el trabajo psicoterapéutico realizado con Juan, un adolescente de 17 años, durante el cual es posible observar los cambios inherentes a la construcción de su identidad e identificación, presentada aquí con inspiración de un clásico literario español, Don Juan; (2) El empleo de la prueba de Rorschach, como instrumento de acceso privilegiado al mundo interior del sujeto, que permite una comprensión singular de las transformaciones psíquicas implicadas en el proceso de convertirse en adolescente. La utilización del Rorschach de esta manera es un enfoque innovador para comprender los procesos psíquicos involucrados, mejorando así la intervención clínica. En el caso de Juan, fue posible mirar más allá de su diagnóstico clínico, permitiendo que esta nueva lectura resalte sus habilidades psíquicas, favoreciendo la construcción de un nuevo posicionamiento, visible en su éxito académico, en las relaciones interpersonales y en su dinámica familiar. Este trabajo clínico solo fue posible dado el nuevo marco teórico que enfatiza los procesos de comunicación y simbolización.

Palabras clave:
Adolescencia; psicoterapia; Rorschach

Introduction

Adolescence is a period during which a key set of psychic transformations take place, that integrate the new and the unknown with the already-familiar and known. Teenagers today are in closer contact with cultural diversity, which gives rise to an even greater variety and diversity of transformations to be carried out, enabling the integration of differences and amplifying their psychic dynamism.

This period of development has been the subject of numerous studies, with a view towards describing and systematizing the psychic processes that are taking place during adolescence. In view of the cultural and social diversity in which we live, however, it is essential to develop new psychic organizers that enable us to better understand the psychic transformations of adolescents.

To this end, we sought grounding in the theories that allow us to understand development as a dynamic and co-constructive process, namely Bion-s theory of thought (1962) that enable us to develop an understanding of the processes already formed and those still under development, from a perspective that facilitates mental growth.

The Rorschach is a well-established tool in psychological assessment, but combining this with the aforementioned theoretical framework. Allows us to access and describe the psychic transformations taking place. With this in mind, two psychic organizers were chosen: techne as revealing the capacity of integration of symbolization processes (Vassalli, 2001), and the ‘field’ as the (re)signifier place of the unknown (Ferro, 2002). Through these organizers, it was possible to conceptualize the transformations of the I and the I-Other relationship. Both essential for understanding the psychic processes underway during the process of becoming an adolescent (Duarte, 2017).

To exemplify how such psychic transformations can be read, we will present the clinical case of Juan, a 17 year-old adolescent, diagnosed psychopathological with a psychotic break, explaining how this new reading allows an integrative approach to its intrapsychic dynamics, favoring its mental development, integrating its cultural and social differences, since it is an adolescent who is displaced from their country of origin.

Becoming an adolescent nowadays

There have been numerous studies about adolescence over the years, which have allowed a progressive expansion of various theoretical frameworks. The Classic models describe adolescence as an elaborative process, based on successive mournings linked to the emergence of the sexual body and the construction of a new identity (Laufer, 1964). This conception opens the possibility of making meaningful choices that contribute to constructing a new identity and representations of the Self, translating a dynamic that is only possible in a relationship with the Other(s) (Jeammet, 1980).

Contemporary theoretical perspectives, on the other hand, unlock further possibilities in understanding and describing the key changes taking place between the beginning and the end of this stage of development. These contemporary views primarily involve the circularity of the mental functioning — rather than psychopathology — as a stepping stone towards understanding adolescence as a process during which the new is integrated into the already-known, in a co-constructive movement.

Thus, adolescence is perceived as a dynamic and creative process, during which several psychological transformations take place - aptly illustrated by the analogy ‘building out into the dark’ (Caper, 2009). To tap the essence of becoming an adolescent, one must understand it as a ‘transformational process’ (Braconnier, 1985), one where certain processes are pre-established while others are in development. There are continuities and discontinuities amongst the different moments of adolescent development, oscillating between idealization-devaluation, splitting-integration, which reconstitute and restore new boundaries to the Self and to the Other.

This fluctuation takes place between active and passive positions, towards an affirmation of the Self which is only possible in the rapport with the Other. The transformational model is particularly suited to describe encounters between subject and object, the internal and the external worlds, the past and the present, and the mechanisms of (re)creating new objects with new characteristics and qualities (Bion, 1982). The concept of ‘transformational object’ allows us to piece together the object relations, symbolic of the experience of transformation (Bollas, 1989).

Adolescents today are very different from their predecessors and will be different from their successors. Transcultural influences are on the rise, a phenomenon which requires us to ‘learn from experience’ (Bion, 1991). Incorporating not only experiences but also exploring and (re)signifying the unknown. Today's multicultural and multifarious society demands of individuals the ability to vertiginously process information/communication, therefore and unavoidably the individual's unconscious processes are themselves influenced by the rhythm(s) of societal dynamics. It is thus essential to provide clients with a space for transformation, in which it is possible to develop new objects and goals, achievable through an intra and inter-subjective relationship and through the creation of a co-constructed space that is essential for the development of the Self in relation with the Other(s) (Brown, 2011).

In order to be able to access and better understand the psychic processes under construction, two psychic organizers were drawn from the literature. Which allow us to address clinical practice: techne and the ‘field’.

Techne can be defined as: a method that differs from other areas of research (Freud, 1900); a methodology that allows thinking about psychic functioning (Vassalli, 2001); and, a creative force, something that can only be understood when it emerges (Carvalho, 1970). The subject/object of the application of techne can change its behavior, techne being the origin and form of what emerges, but which has an effect on the Other (Vassalli, 2001). Through this framing concept, we try to materialize the process of becoming an adolescent, since it is not constituted at the outset, but is being built. Thus, techne allows you to learn, from the construction process itself, through which one's own subjectivity is expressed.

The notion of ‘field’, as described by Ferro (2002), is of great importance because it allows us to translate the unconscious processes of transformation, in which unexpressed emotions are experienced. This leads to the introduction of narratives, which function as vehicles of transformation for fantasies shared unconsciously—grounded in Bion’s (1982) work on transformations.

Thus, the ‘field’ can be defined as a matrix of possible stories, in which there is an oscillation between knowing how to remain in doubt. It can be defined based on the following characteristics: the instance, both in space and time, where the emotional turbulence generated by the relational encounter begins; the function that describes the relationship between the two subjects that make up the relational pair; the place where the narratives that describe the emotions present in the relationship are expressed and continuously transformed into intelligible narratives, promoting the production of knowledge and understanding (Ferro, 2000).

The ‘field’ becomes a place where all the worlds can open up as a result of the encounter, both spatial and temporal, inhabited by the present and the past, open to the future, remaining in constant movement with its own pattern (Ferro, 2011). Adolescence is par excellence the moment in development of one’s encounter with oneself, taking place in a space and time, located between childhood and adulthood, a transition that generates enormous tensions and distresses which society doesn’t not always understand or accept in the appropriate manner.

The Rorschach method: a way to reveal becoming an adolescent

Theories in Psychology are in constant renewal and (re)construction, forming tools that make it possible to dream, feel and think (Ferro, 2015). This raises the need for tools to accomplish these goals, ones sensitive to the uniqueness of the subject.

The Rorschach, understood as an assessment instrument, is used as a tool to provide access to the inner and inter-subjective world of the subject, therefore allowing us to better describe the transformations that the subject is experiencing. Duarte (2017), suggested operating two psychic organizers on the Rorschach, playing off on the theory of thought (Bion, 1962), which would allow the comprehension of the process of co-construction. the concept of techne (Vassalli, 2001) and the notion of ‘field’ (Ferro, 2002).

Techne was made explored via successive Rorschach responses, by the analysing the sequences of significances and the movement between opposites — proximity vs. distance, open vs. closed, known vs. unknown, recognizable vs. foreigner — that could range from dispersion to integration, based on the creative process of symbolization (Duarte, 2017).

In the same context, the ‘field’ represents the place for intra and inter-subjective encounters, establishing a dynamic around projective identification, which in turn leads to the creation of a transformational space into which contents emerge. The ‘field’ (Ferro, 2009) functions as a container, generating new sense and new meaning, unveiling the process of adolescent development. But, what cannot be thought and transformed, in the ‘field’, can move from one mind to another, especially when the forces which constitute the relationship belong to those who are involved in it (Ferro & Civitarese, 2015). When employing the Rorschach. The ‘field’ provides a relation of circularity, which articulates objects in relation to one another.

Whilst the techne-container operates as a creative process of symbolization of the content-‘field’, we may also say, that the ‘field’-container operates as the alpha function to transform the techne-content (Duarte, 2017). In this manner, we have what Ferro and Civitarese (2015), describe as the activity of dream present in the conscious mind, which in turn, implies, in a first moment, awareness, allowing the development of thoughts and, consequently, the ability to think through a complex model of the mind that will allow one to know ‘O’ the ultimate reality.

To illustrate how this reading can take place, to this end, we were inspired by a classic of Spanish literature, Don Juan, calling upon it to organize the narrative of Juan, a 17 year-old teenager whose family requested psychological assistance after he suffered a psychotic break. The different acts of Don Juan's will serve as a metaphor to punctuate the various moments of this clinical case, attempting to illustrate the different passages in his process of becoming an adolescent. In the first part, we will read Juan's various clinical moments, and, in the second part, we will delve into the psychic transformations present in his Rorschach protocol, articulating with the psychic movements inherent to his mental growth, where meaning and symbolization were fundamental to the structuring of his identity and his identification process.

Juan, an adolescent but not a Don Juan!

Part One:

The first part of Don Juan takes place in Seville, during the last years of the reign of Carlos I of Spain. Don Juan and Luís Mejía have a long running double wager about which of the two would be able to make a bigger fortune in a year and which of the two would fight more duels and seduce more maidens. Don Juan wins the bet and Luís challenges him again, telling him that to prove himself he still needs to win over a young novice. Don Juan accepts the new challenge and devotes himself to winning over his beloved, Dona Inês, with his partner ending up losing the wager and meeting a tragic end (Molina, 2017).

The therapeutic process can be compared to a theater play, composed of several acts, in which the story unfolds between the patient and the therapist, between the patient and the figures that are emotionally significant to him, with himself, in an internal discovery process, an intra and intersubjective co-construction.

Act I - Delinquent (‘Cholo’)

Juan is a 17 year-old adolescent who was given my contact for the purpose of psychoanalytic-inspired psychotherapy. While Juan lives in Portugal and attends an English school, his mother tongue is Spanish, and he speaks only this and English in everyday life. The referral took place after a psychotic break during his summer vacations, following which he was admitted to a psychiatric ward for a month (Cunha, 2017).

Tall and lanky, his shoulders bent forward, tanned skin and green eyes unfocused, a haunted look […] this is how Juan presents himself at our first meeting. Juan is like a stranger in a strange land, raised in Colombia, where he lived until two years prior. He moved to Portugal with his mother who has a four-year work contract here. At school, where he attends the 12^th grade, he is teased by his schoolmates; they make jokes about cocaine, making him feel apart, a delinquent (‘cholo’), leading to isolate himself, taking refuge in the use of social networks and viewing on-line pornography, a common practice among his group of peers (Cunha, 2017).

Juan talks about his psychotic break as if it were his ID card: “I had a psychotic episode two months ago, I was very aroused, sexually aroused, my head was all-over the place, it was a mess in my mind, too many thoughts […] sexual thoughts”. Confronted with the impossibility of thinking through his relationships, Juan was locked into a ‘logic’ of uncertainties and doubts, where he sought to appropriate affections as if these were objects in themselves, rather than transitional and impermanent. Therefore, not unlike pornography, all that remained was images lacking sense and significance (Cunha, 2017).

It is during adolescence that the ability to calm down in the face of concerns from the internal world develops. Cahn (1991) described this process as ‘disturbing strangeness’, considering it inevitable for the processes of subjectivity, affection and representation, which give way to the choices of adult sexuality during this period of development. For this process to run smoothly, it is essential to progressively reorganize the connection between internal and external excitations, requiring the fluid functioning of the halt excitation mechanism (Cahn, 1991), which facilitates the progressive differentiation between the subject and object, that is, between the Self and the Other.

The therapeutic encounter with Juan took place in the private context and began, with a psychological evaluation. This assessment included the Rorschach test as both a reliable instrument, long-employed and validated for diagnostic purposes as well as for its facility in accessing the nature of the subject's psychic processes.

After the evaluation, a psychoanalytical-inspired psychotherapeutic process was started, with weekly face-to-face sessions, lasting 45 minutes. It was established from the outset that the therapist would only be following Juan for a limited time, a school year, because the start of the summer vacation would take him back to his country and to new challenges — with the end of high school and adolescence and the entry into the University and adult life.

Act II - Skill

The skill in the technique of psychoanalytic-inspired psychotherapy was fundamental when reviewing the issues Juan brought up, session after session. His voiced issues with the world were unvaryingly anchored on social frameworks: capitalism, the law of supply and demand in international marketplaces and the exchange market, among others. This kind of unconscious material spoke to power and wealth, spoke to his potential inner world, and, evidently, about communication between the internal-external domains; the difficulties presented by the everyday business of interpersonal relationships (Cunha, 2017).

The psychotic break, had devastated Juan’s entire family. His mother - a prominent person with a demanding profession that forces her to be out of the country for long periods of time - did not surrender and actively tries to find help for her only son. His father, whose matrimony to Juan’s mother is a second marriage, is much older. He is an unpretentious and emotional man concerned with his son’s future (Cunha, 2017).

Juan’s mother was consistently very distressed. She often amplified events and circumstances, thus making it harder to understand the underlying reality, excessively distorted in such instances [...] Juan describes the relationship with his mother as being supportive, but quite demanding, while describing feeling a slightly emotionally distant from her. His father believes in him and seems to greatly aid his son in regulating his reality and expectations. Although Juan feels his father as more the more demanding, he maintains a greater emotional closeness with him, sharing some of his tastes and interests (Cunha, 2017).

Act III - Profanation

After three months of psychotherapeutic follow-up, Juan could already think about his ‘profane’ acts: viewing pornography accompanied by masturbation. Therapy had made it possible to understand the relational and emotional experience inherent in the process of becoming an adolescent, an affective experience that is internalized, a sign of an internalized absence, that is to say, of a presence now symbolized. On the intrapsychic level, this connection serves, as proposed by Marty (2002), to establish symbolic relationships, to represent and elaborate emotionally significant content, to attempt to maintain internal cohesion, in order to preserve one’s own sense of existence.

Juan's greater internal consolidation allowed us to access the episode of rejection that marked him in the past. Like Don Juan, he made overtures to a girl he liked, but as a response she distanced herself. This episode was experienced as a mixture of rejection and abandonment, he had not managed to seduce his maiden and therefore felt devalued with girls, given it was not yet possible for him to understand the complementarity needed in the relationship with the Other (Cunha, 2017).

The progressive Self-Other differentiation allowed Juan to better understand his own family dynamics. The maternal and the paternal presented themselves as two very distinct entities, difficult to conciliate internally, given they offered an atypical logic, and therefore questioned psychic circularity movements, inherent to growth. Thus, the necessary distance required to better comprehend the boundaries between Oneself and Other, was compromised, as was the healthy identification to a male role model with appropriate qualities and attributes - which serves the construction of a sufficiently cohesive and stable Self (Cunha, 2017).

Act IV - Devil at the gates of heaven

By the end of the first act, Don Juan has to face his ghosts and only the love that he felt for Doña Inés is able to save him from suffering in hell forever (Molina, 2017). In psychotherapeutic work with Juan, themes such as love, betrayal or hatred emerged consistently. These emotions, previously inaccessible to him, and his inability to process had led to the psychotic break, a disorganization of his internal world, in response to an inability to symbolize.

The therapeutic space, with its containerizing, transforming and (re)signifying quality, allowed the development of Juan's relational capacity. It enabled him to look back at what he had experienced and felt, now framed in a transformational relational link that allowed the discovery: of ‘longing’ that he felt from his land and the way he missed his childhood home; of curiosity about the world in general and about me, as his therapist, in particular. The themes evolved, he read Eça de Queiroz and thought about 19th century society and how it addressed issues such as love, betrayal, hatred, in an attempt to integrate this new culture in which he found himself, so distinct from home, thus beginning to build a new identity and new models of identification.

A few months after the start of our psychotherapeutic work, Juan was visibly more confident of his identity, of his place among peers and family. He was able to integrate his affective dimension in the relationship with the Other(s). The physical signs of his change were also evident: the beard that covered his face, the muscles that gave him an athletic build, the gentle and sweet look, the authenticity of his affection. Juan was now aware of the impact of his body, of what he felt and thought, he was almost a Don Juan!

Segunda parte:

The second part of Don Juan's work begins 5 years after the death of Luís, with the return of Don Juan to Seville, to the cemetery where Luís had been buried and where he unexpectedly encounters the grave of Dona Inês, who died of heartbreak realizing that she and her lover could never end together (Molina, 2017).

Act I - The shadow of Doña Inés

In the author’s clinical practice, Rorschach analysis functions not unlike the shadow of Doña Inés works for Don Juan. The psychic processes are in transformation and as instruments the techne and ‘field’ organizers bring to bear a plethora of resources to improve my clinical work with adolescents, facilitating a better understanding of their inner world and consequently helping them with identity issues and processes of identification.

If Juan’s protocol were to be analysed via the traditional Rorschach methodology it undoubtedly indicate a psychic functioning interrupted by strong splitting and intense projective identification, a clear fit for a severe psychopathology. According to Chabert (2013), we could speak of a disintegration of the representation of the Self with the loss of limits and strong attacks on the identity and the sense of continuity of existence. At the projective level, the desertification of his phantasmatic life can be attributed to the strength of his destructive drives attacking his thought processes.

The possibility of reading and interpreting Juan's Rorschach protocol based on the non-traditional psychic organizers allows a different understanding of his psychic dynamics, since it enables us to understand how his drives clash with his thinking and what are ultimately the internal resources available for transformation and to char the best course of towards becoming an adolescent.

The techne served as a framework for successive Rorschach responses, based on the creative process of symbolization. At the card III of the Rorschach, the techne has a containment and (re)signifying function in a dynamic relationship with the transforming and revealing field of the intrapsychic and intersubjective process present in growth. To this card, Juan’s response connect childhood to adult life “It’s a man that looks like a frog, listening to music”. We have ‘the frog’ that belongs to childhood fairy-tales, while the adolescent on his way to be an adult is listening to music and searching for an identification —, as is expected from the response to this card, we see a movement that integrates his transition from childhood to adulthood.

Card IV allows us to recognize and elaborate the opposites “[…] They’re two boots for walking and are used by a man who sees things from afar”. Infancy and adult life are two opposites that flank adolescence, that have to be connected and integrated during this period of development, two boots that must be aligned in the same body, in the body of the ‘man who sees from afar’ who needs to grow from a psychic point of view so that the advancement in growth can take place.

This shift is notable when we come to reading the pastel cards. To Card VIII Juan responds: “Two iguanas that are climbing a mountain and that are camouflaging their colour […]”, integrating the change of colour in this card, through a prism of adaptation to the environment, an essential survival trait for animals in the wild; a fundamental learning to acquire during adolescence.

Meanwhile, the ‘field’ as an organizer is revelatory of Juan’s psychic circularity. To Card I, his answer was: “There are two people dancing […]” enhancing his robust capability for elaboration of the unknown right at the start of the Rorschach analysis, demonstrating a psychic circularity in the Self-Other dynamic. This movement is present throughout the protocol, not only in Card I that is compact, but also in response to the bilateral and pastel cards.

Card VII evokes Juan’s feelings on motherhood: “Two children that are playing at the park […] they have their hands in the air”. Once again we have a good relation between childhood, and, the these children’s search for attachments exemplified by their extended welcoming hands, a movement of connection and relationship with the Other(s). By the end, on card X, where there is typically greater dispersion, Juan evokes a ‘party’, that indicates a good capacity to contain the dispersion presented in the last card, but at the same time it reveals the good integration of his roots — the tropical environments of Colombia's warm rhythms —, and his developing internal ability to handle affections and to express them in a balanced fashion, placing limits here on the anguish felt at overcoming the ordeal.

Despite the shadow of the gloomy psychopathological diagnosis that Juan brought to therapy, many of the psychic movements revealed in his Rorschach protocol, evidence his ability to reconcile and integrate opposite movements, which he does in a relational and creative way, demonstrating the existence of a psychic dynamism, that is, of potential for carrying out clinical work.

Act II - The Statue of Don Gonzalo

During the process of becoming an adolescent, the maternal and paternal spheres are fundamental to structure and establish identity. These two major axes are manifest in the Rorschach protocol, through their close relationship with the representation of parental imagos, particularly in terms of identity mapping transformation which is revelatory of an identity search. This type of transformation is often expressed through responses that reveal the search for a face with feminine and/or masculine attributes (Duarte, 2017).

Juan's response to Card IX in his Rorschach protocol, a illustrates such identity mapping transformation : “It is a furious face and pays attention at all that happens”. This response translates the search for a face, for an identity, but one that can only be understood/read by applying to the protocol the prism of the new psychic organizers, — since a classical interpretation would point to a strong restlessness and paranoid indices, characteristic of a psychotic functioning of the personality.

But, Juan’s greatest difficulty concerns his identity structure, expressed in a poetical manner in his reply to Card V: “It is a blooming butterfly that wants to fly but can’t […]”, an analogy with his own process of becoming an adolescent, a process of identity growth and consolidation, in which there are hurdles and wherein only the elaboration in psychotherapy allowed him to fly!

As mentioned above, psychotherapeutic work can be compared with the analogy of ‘building into the dark’ (Caper, 2009), a path of self-discovery and integration, in which we have to believe that we will come to an endpoint, even when we cannot see it and we have to walk, in the dark, believing that construction is happening about us, a co-constructive and intersubjective process that provides foundation to the structure of adult life.

Act III - God merciful and the apotheosis of love

Adolescence needs the ‘God’s grace’ since it is an extended period of development, during which one needs to deal with the desire to be and the powerlessness of still not being, oscillating between spaces and places. These distinguishing characteristics give adolescence both its beautiful colours, but also tiptoe the lines of psychopathology.

Psychosis is known for the presence of severe psychic changes, the main psychopathological manifestations of which are marked by divestment, the absence of a relational and affective life, and a disintegrating representation of the Self. These characteristics, in projective terms, translate into a sense of inadequacy to external reality, failures in terms of containment and integration of affects, and a painful sensitivity to early object relationships (Rebelo, 2017).

In the clinical work carried out with Juan, the apotheosis of love was a reality that emerged in the various transformations present during the course of his development. In projective terms, this movement is visible from the response to Card X: “It’s a…party where all the colours are dancing and the greys are the hosts of the party […]” which shows a good ability to contain the anguish brought by the last card, enunciating a transformation of a progressive type revealing the ability to I-Other different, in its full acceptance of content and transformation of it, to which there is a logic of complementarity and the presence of an intersubjective and co-constructive movement (Duarte, 2017).

The progressive transformation translates the articulation between what is not yet known, but which can now be revealed and endowed, with a new meaning, and that which has new significance, abetting the structuring of the new psychic processes that are at the base of identity and processes identification.

Final consideration

The process of adolescent transformation involves the integration of the unknown into the already-known, the recombination of the new with the old, resulting in a (re)creation with unprecedented identity significances. Resembling adolescent personality development unified towards adulthood.

The author believes projective methodology bring a great added value to accessing and understanding the psychic functioning of the teenagers. Because, like Rebelo (2017) described it is particularly important to be able to understand the psychic dynamics of adolescents with psychotic functioning, particularly after a psychotic decompensation.

The introduction of new psychic organizers presents itself as a powerful stratagem in working with adolescents. Through the use of techne and ‘field’ it was possible to better describe and understand the processes that are already established and the processes that are still under construction during this developmental period. These two new organizers enable one to better adjust the clinical intervention in terms of natural development needs, rather than focusing on stigmatizing psychopathology.

Within the patient-therapist relation, inter-subjectivity has to be co-created from the each element’s subjectivity via creativity (Brodie, 2020). The Rorschach test, allows responses that emerge to be thought and addressed on the basis of this creative component within the context of said relation — where the dynamics between the aforementioned psychic organizers, techne and ‘field’, play a role in the inter-subjective relation.

It is important to think of the Rorschach Test not simply as a diagnostic instrument, but also as an instrument of access of the unconscious that brings us what Ogden (2004) described a third unconscious process of inter-subjectivity. The patient’s observation of the therapist's subjectivity, sometimes, works as the psychological third that allows for emotional and psychological growth (Brodie, 2020). The Rorschach protocol, framed in this theoretical context, constitutes a privileged instrument to access the subject, unequivocally relevant for the understanding of communication, symbolization and transformational processes, potentially even more relevant when the subject is becoming an adolescent.

Juan’s Rorschach protocol analyzed through psychopathological way, in a classic manner, would be reductive and stigmatizing, limiting a deeper understanding of his actual psychic functioning. Understanding Juan's transformations, by applying these new prisms, allowed a fluid understanding of his psychic dynamism, revealing a need to map his identity, (re)building it in the relation(s) to the Other(s), in a progressive motion towards growth, that is, a transformation of growth in Bion's thinking in ‘O’, the ultimate reality which allows access to knowledge of oneself (Duarte, 2017).

The psychotherapeutic work carried out with Juan enabled him to (re)organize his identity, in which cultural differences were both a reality, but which were not a true hurdle to his optimal social and emotional development, allowing him to become an adolescent, with all his authenticity and ability to seduce - like a real Don Juan.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  10 Nov 2023
• Date of issue
  2023

History

• Received
  11 Aug 2020
• Accepted
  29 May 2021