The Girl who Committed Hara-Kiri and Other Clinical and Historical Essays

This book bears witness to the author's psychoanalytic journey from the years 1994-1995 to the present, and as such is a completion and a continuation of his previous Psychoanalysis as a Journey of 1999. The book is divided into two parts: one clinical and the other theoretical. The two parts are connected to each other, since the concepts and authors on whom the second (theoretical-clinical) part are focused make up the “tools of the trade” that the author utilizes in the first part to describe his work with patients. In particular, Borgogno describes his work with “M,” who is the protagonist of many of these pages.

The first (clinical) part contains the text, more or less unmodified, of the analytic paper that the author presented fifteen years ago in order to be appointed a training and supervising analyst. The second (theoretical) part of the book groups together the subjects and mentors who have influenced his reflections throughout these years. The author focuses, among others, on Freud, Ferenczi, and Winnicott, but also on Heimann, Bion, Alice Balint, Michael Balint, Enid Balint, and Little.