Micropsychotherapy is a psychotherapeutical technique elaborated by some psychoanalists, members of the Italian Institute of Micropsychoanalysis and Francophone Institute of Micropsychoanalysis. It is the result of integration among freudian psychoanalysis, some innovations brought by micropsychoanalysis and a long working experience acquired in clinical, academic and social field. Specificity of the method, from which comes the name, is the possibility of modulating length and frequency of the session, in relation to the psychological situation of the subject and to his own way of expressing the trouble.

It points at the facilitation of focussing those elements of psychic life, sometimes microscopical, in which resides conflictual nucleus. They are the reason of suffrance. However Freud wrote: “…sometimes we deal with patiens who need more than one our each day, since they spend most of it to defrost, in other words to become communicative…” (New suggestions on techinique of psychoanalysis). Then microspychotherapy is a method which, according to the situation of the people (working and/or family obligations) keeps into consideration, first of all the person and his psychological trouble and avoid to settle the therapuetic setting with rigid parameters. It is suitable for:

• anxious status
• mourning, loss an separations
• work, love and school failure
• inadequate behaviours to social context
• sexual troubles
• dependence
• feeding trouble

Micropsychotherapy can also be a good support when emotions reduce the efficacy of a medical treatment. Therapy is preceded by preliminary interviews at the end of which the psychotherapist evaluate the most suitable procedure to the person, frequency and length of the session, whcich, in any case, woun’t be less than one hour.

Even if the main instrument of investigation is, as for psychoanalysis, the free associations, during treatment psychotherapist can introduce the use of some technical innovations such as the study of phothographs, the reconstruction of family tree and/or the reading of his correspondence and diaries (see technical innovations). The aim is to indirectly stimulate memories and emotions recalling and facilitate introspection. The main difference between micropsychotherapy and psychoanalysis or micropsychoanalysis is the overall length of the therapy: some months The end is established in relation to the elimination of the most evident symptomatology and, most of all, in relation to the well-being of the person.

The first target of the work is the discovery of the conflicts which have caused the present anguish. Micropsychotherapist will turn his attemption to the manifest content of the conflict and to repetitions, to the way it appears in the principal moments of his life, from puberty to nowadays. For example, he will take into consideration, birth of sisters and brothers, passing rituals such as baptism, communion, wedding, separation from family and mourning due to loss of parents, friends and/or pets. Attention will be focussed on preconscious and conscious aspects of patient’s life existential events and the aim will be the recognition that his several conflicts lead to few elements, caracterized by a guiding thread whcich may be the compulsive research of disappointment, failure, self-devaluation, humiliation, etc. In the end, theapeutical target is a better management of the conflicts , reduction of punishment need, whose evident aspetc is represented by syptoms and painful repetition.