Gemma Zontini - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Gemma Zontini
The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Apr 1, 2001
T he authors begin by drawing attention to the problem of the transition from the biological to t... more T he authors begin by drawing attention to the problem of the transition from the biological to the psychic, noting that Freud himself, with his background in the neurosciences, grappled with it throughout his career. Certain recent paradigms more commonly applied to the natural sciences, such as in particular chaos and complexity theory, can in their view prove fruitful in psychoanalysis too, and it is shown how these notions are inherent in some of Freud's conceptions. T he unconscious is stated to operate like a neural network, performing the kind of parallel processing used in the computing of highly complex situations, whereas the conscious mind is sequential. Dreams, in the authors' opinion, are organisers of the mind, imparting order to the turbulence of the underlying wishes and unconscious fantasies and structuring them through the dream work. T hrough dreams, the structured linearity of conscious thought can emerge out of the non-linear chaos of the drives. T he dream's navel can be seen as the chaotic link, or interface, between the unconscious wish, which constitutes an attractor, and the conscious thought. T he attractor may be visualised as having an hourglass or clepsydra shape, the narrow section being the dream's navel, and, being the same at any scale of observation, has the property of fractality. Anyone who hopes to learn the noble game of chess from books will soon discover that only the openings and end-games admit of an exhaustive systematic presentation and that the infinite variety of moves which develop after the opening defy any such description (Freud, 1913, p. 123).
Journal of Psychiatric Practice, Jul 1, 2010
The aim of this study was to evaluate (1) the frequency of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) in... more The aim of this study was to evaluate (1) the frequency of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) in patients with schizophrenia, (2) the impact of OCS on clinical features of schizophrenia, and (3) the association between type of antipsychotic treatment and presence of OCS.
New Models and Perspectives
In this chapter, the authors examine some similarities between computer science and psychoanalysi... more In this chapter, the authors examine some similarities between computer science and psychoanalysis, and formulate some hypotheses by bringing closer the statute of connectionism to the energetic model of the psychic apparatus as well as the OOP (object-oriented programming) to the object relations theory. The chapter also describes the relation existing between the functioning of mnemic systems and human temporalities as dynamic structures/processes which might be represented as complementary images of each other. The authors make some remarks on the machine and people theme, the way in which men relate to machines, especially “thinking machines,” describing the fantasies they arouse. In order to do this, the chapter uses Tausk’s classic (1919/1933) “On the Origin of the ‘Influencing Machine’ in Schizophrenia”1, as well as some of Freud’s writings.
Work (Reading, Mass.), 2014
The link between work distress and negative mental health outcome is an emergent topic in the sci... more The link between work distress and negative mental health outcome is an emergent topic in the scientific literature. The studies that evaluated the risk of work-related psychopathologies in the different job sectors have obtained so far controversial and inconclusive results. The identification, by means of standardized evaluation tools, of the work activities at higher risk of poor mental health is a relevant target for the occupational psychiatry and medicine. To evaluate the relationship between the psychosocial work conditions and work related psychiatric disturbances and to verify the relationship between the higher pathogenic effect of work and specific job activities. A six-month diagnostic trial was conducted on 234 patients (35.4% women and 64.6% men). Psychiatric diagnoses were according to DSM-IV criteria; anxious and depressive dimensions were studied by means of Hamilton-Anxiety-Scale and Hamilton Scale for Depression; psychosocial work environments and bio-psycho-socia...
Psicoterapia e Scienze …, 2007
Page 1. 345 IL MOBBING (BULLYING AT WORK) ED I MECCANISMI REGRESSIVI NEI GRUPPI Giovanni Nolfe*, ... more Page 1. 345 IL MOBBING (BULLYING AT WORK) ED I MECCANISMI REGRESSIVI NEI GRUPPI Giovanni Nolfe*, Claudio Petrella*, Francesco Blasi**, Gemma Zontini*** Discutere dei collegamenti tra le condizioni organizzative ...
International Journal of Mental Health, 2007
... GIOVANNI NOLFE, CLAUDIO PETRELLA, FRANCESCO BLASI, GEMMA ZONTINI, AND GIUSEPPE NOLFE ... Gemm... more ... GIOVANNI NOLFE, CLAUDIO PETRELLA, FRANCESCO BLASI, GEMMA ZONTINI, AND GIUSEPPE NOLFE ... Gemma Zontini, MD, is Medical Director of the Psychiatric Hos-pital Service, V. Monaldi, in Naples, and a full member of the International Psychoanalytical Association. ...
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2009
Background The relationship between work demands and psychiatric disturbances represents an emerg... more Background The relationship between work demands and psychiatric disturbances represents an emerging topic in the contemporary psychiatry. The phenomenon of mobbing (bullying at work), in this regard, acquires the value of a more significant life-event-stressor, till to becomes the paradigm of the pathogenic influence that work organizational and interpersonal characteristics have on the mental health. Many studies have underlined the prevalence and the epidemiological features of mobbing using self-administered questionnaires and have considered the bullying at work as an on/off phenomenon.
Zontini G. (2016). May your steel be as sharp as your final no! In Thomson-Salo F. e Tognoli Pasquali L. (a cura di). (2018). When a child has been abused. London-New York. Routledge. , 2018
The Complex Coevolution of Information Technology Ecosystems, 2008
Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia
The aim of this study is to produce preliminary data about the validation of the "Naples-Que... more The aim of this study is to produce preliminary data about the validation of the "Naples-Questionnaire of Distress at Work" (nQ.DW). This inventory is a new assessment tool in order to evaluate the distress perceived in the working environment by means of the differentiation of the conditions linked to the mobbing from which related to organizational disfunction. The nQ-DW also measures the bio-psycho-social global effects of these two phenomena. The questionnaire has been administered to workers suffering of a psychopathological disturbance related to work distress and to a control group matched for the sociodemographic and working variables. The statistical analysis demonstrated a significant validity and reliability. The degree of internal coherence was satisfactory. The ROC curves allow the determination of a threshold value which allows to separate the workers subjected to mobbing and/or organizational stress from control-workers with an optimal reliability degree. Th...
Journal of Clinical Medicine
The relationship between psychosocial stress at work and mental health outcome is well-known. Bra... more The relationship between psychosocial stress at work and mental health outcome is well-known. Brain-imaging studies hypothesize morphological brain modifications connected to work-related stress. To our knowledge this is the first study describing the link between work characteristics and brain imaging in a sample of work-related psychiatric patients assessed according to standardized clinical and diagnostic criteria. The aims of the study are: (1) to evaluate hippocampal and whole brain volumes in work-related psychiatric disturbances; (2) to verify the relationship between brain changes and the anxious and/or depressive symptoms; (3) to observe the relationship between the brain changes and the degree of the bullying at workplace. The hippocampus and whole brain volumes of 23 patients with work-related adjustment-disorders were compared with 15 controls by means of MRI. MR images highlight a smaller hippocampal volume in patients compared with controls. Significant reduction in th...
International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2001
T he authors begin by drawing attention to the problem of the transition from the biological to t... more T he authors begin by drawing attention to the problem of the transition from the biological to the psychic, noting that Freud himself, with his background in the neurosciences, grappled with it throughout his career. Certain recent paradigms more commonly applied to the natural sciences, such as in particular chaos and complexity theory, can in their view prove fruitful in psychoanalysis too, and it is shown how these notions are inherent in some of Freud's conceptions. T he unconscious is stated to operate like a neural network, performing the kind of parallel processing used in the computing of highly complex situations, whereas the conscious mind is sequential. Dreams, in the authors' opinion, are organisers of the mind, imparting order to the turbulence of the underlying wishes and unconscious fantasies and structuring them through the dream work. T hrough dreams, the structured linearity of conscious thought can emerge out of the non-linear chaos of the drives. T he dream's navel can be seen as the chaotic link, or interface, between the unconscious wish, which constitutes an attractor, and the conscious thought. T he attractor may be visualised as having an hourglass or clepsydra shape, the narrow section being the dream's navel, and, being the same at any scale of observation, has the property of fractality. Anyone who hopes to learn the noble game of chess from books will soon discover that only the openings and end-games admit of an exhaustive systematic presentation and that the infinite variety of moves which develop after the opening defy any such description (Freud, 1913, p. 123).
The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Apr 1, 2001
T he authors begin by drawing attention to the problem of the transition from the biological to t... more T he authors begin by drawing attention to the problem of the transition from the biological to the psychic, noting that Freud himself, with his background in the neurosciences, grappled with it throughout his career. Certain recent paradigms more commonly applied to the natural sciences, such as in particular chaos and complexity theory, can in their view prove fruitful in psychoanalysis too, and it is shown how these notions are inherent in some of Freud's conceptions. T he unconscious is stated to operate like a neural network, performing the kind of parallel processing used in the computing of highly complex situations, whereas the conscious mind is sequential. Dreams, in the authors' opinion, are organisers of the mind, imparting order to the turbulence of the underlying wishes and unconscious fantasies and structuring them through the dream work. T hrough dreams, the structured linearity of conscious thought can emerge out of the non-linear chaos of the drives. T he dream's navel can be seen as the chaotic link, or interface, between the unconscious wish, which constitutes an attractor, and the conscious thought. T he attractor may be visualised as having an hourglass or clepsydra shape, the narrow section being the dream's navel, and, being the same at any scale of observation, has the property of fractality. Anyone who hopes to learn the noble game of chess from books will soon discover that only the openings and end-games admit of an exhaustive systematic presentation and that the infinite variety of moves which develop after the opening defy any such description (Freud, 1913, p. 123).
Journal of Psychiatric Practice, Jul 1, 2010
The aim of this study was to evaluate (1) the frequency of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) in... more The aim of this study was to evaluate (1) the frequency of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) in patients with schizophrenia, (2) the impact of OCS on clinical features of schizophrenia, and (3) the association between type of antipsychotic treatment and presence of OCS.
New Models and Perspectives
In this chapter, the authors examine some similarities between computer science and psychoanalysi... more In this chapter, the authors examine some similarities between computer science and psychoanalysis, and formulate some hypotheses by bringing closer the statute of connectionism to the energetic model of the psychic apparatus as well as the OOP (object-oriented programming) to the object relations theory. The chapter also describes the relation existing between the functioning of mnemic systems and human temporalities as dynamic structures/processes which might be represented as complementary images of each other. The authors make some remarks on the machine and people theme, the way in which men relate to machines, especially “thinking machines,” describing the fantasies they arouse. In order to do this, the chapter uses Tausk’s classic (1919/1933) “On the Origin of the ‘Influencing Machine’ in Schizophrenia”1, as well as some of Freud’s writings.
Work (Reading, Mass.), 2014
The link between work distress and negative mental health outcome is an emergent topic in the sci... more The link between work distress and negative mental health outcome is an emergent topic in the scientific literature. The studies that evaluated the risk of work-related psychopathologies in the different job sectors have obtained so far controversial and inconclusive results. The identification, by means of standardized evaluation tools, of the work activities at higher risk of poor mental health is a relevant target for the occupational psychiatry and medicine. To evaluate the relationship between the psychosocial work conditions and work related psychiatric disturbances and to verify the relationship between the higher pathogenic effect of work and specific job activities. A six-month diagnostic trial was conducted on 234 patients (35.4% women and 64.6% men). Psychiatric diagnoses were according to DSM-IV criteria; anxious and depressive dimensions were studied by means of Hamilton-Anxiety-Scale and Hamilton Scale for Depression; psychosocial work environments and bio-psycho-socia...
Psicoterapia e Scienze …, 2007
Page 1. 345 IL MOBBING (BULLYING AT WORK) ED I MECCANISMI REGRESSIVI NEI GRUPPI Giovanni Nolfe*, ... more Page 1. 345 IL MOBBING (BULLYING AT WORK) ED I MECCANISMI REGRESSIVI NEI GRUPPI Giovanni Nolfe*, Claudio Petrella*, Francesco Blasi**, Gemma Zontini*** Discutere dei collegamenti tra le condizioni organizzative ...
International Journal of Mental Health, 2007
... GIOVANNI NOLFE, CLAUDIO PETRELLA, FRANCESCO BLASI, GEMMA ZONTINI, AND GIUSEPPE NOLFE ... Gemm... more ... GIOVANNI NOLFE, CLAUDIO PETRELLA, FRANCESCO BLASI, GEMMA ZONTINI, AND GIUSEPPE NOLFE ... Gemma Zontini, MD, is Medical Director of the Psychiatric Hos-pital Service, V. Monaldi, in Naples, and a full member of the International Psychoanalytical Association. ...
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2009
Background The relationship between work demands and psychiatric disturbances represents an emerg... more Background The relationship between work demands and psychiatric disturbances represents an emerging topic in the contemporary psychiatry. The phenomenon of mobbing (bullying at work), in this regard, acquires the value of a more significant life-event-stressor, till to becomes the paradigm of the pathogenic influence that work organizational and interpersonal characteristics have on the mental health. Many studies have underlined the prevalence and the epidemiological features of mobbing using self-administered questionnaires and have considered the bullying at work as an on/off phenomenon.
Zontini G. (2016). May your steel be as sharp as your final no! In Thomson-Salo F. e Tognoli Pasquali L. (a cura di). (2018). When a child has been abused. London-New York. Routledge. , 2018
The Complex Coevolution of Information Technology Ecosystems, 2008
Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia
The aim of this study is to produce preliminary data about the validation of the "Naples-Que... more The aim of this study is to produce preliminary data about the validation of the "Naples-Questionnaire of Distress at Work" (nQ.DW). This inventory is a new assessment tool in order to evaluate the distress perceived in the working environment by means of the differentiation of the conditions linked to the mobbing from which related to organizational disfunction. The nQ-DW also measures the bio-psycho-social global effects of these two phenomena. The questionnaire has been administered to workers suffering of a psychopathological disturbance related to work distress and to a control group matched for the sociodemographic and working variables. The statistical analysis demonstrated a significant validity and reliability. The degree of internal coherence was satisfactory. The ROC curves allow the determination of a threshold value which allows to separate the workers subjected to mobbing and/or organizational stress from control-workers with an optimal reliability degree. Th...
Journal of Clinical Medicine
The relationship between psychosocial stress at work and mental health outcome is well-known. Bra... more The relationship between psychosocial stress at work and mental health outcome is well-known. Brain-imaging studies hypothesize morphological brain modifications connected to work-related stress. To our knowledge this is the first study describing the link between work characteristics and brain imaging in a sample of work-related psychiatric patients assessed according to standardized clinical and diagnostic criteria. The aims of the study are: (1) to evaluate hippocampal and whole brain volumes in work-related psychiatric disturbances; (2) to verify the relationship between brain changes and the anxious and/or depressive symptoms; (3) to observe the relationship between the brain changes and the degree of the bullying at workplace. The hippocampus and whole brain volumes of 23 patients with work-related adjustment-disorders were compared with 15 controls by means of MRI. MR images highlight a smaller hippocampal volume in patients compared with controls. Significant reduction in th...
International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2001
T he authors begin by drawing attention to the problem of the transition from the biological to t... more T he authors begin by drawing attention to the problem of the transition from the biological to the psychic, noting that Freud himself, with his background in the neurosciences, grappled with it throughout his career. Certain recent paradigms more commonly applied to the natural sciences, such as in particular chaos and complexity theory, can in their view prove fruitful in psychoanalysis too, and it is shown how these notions are inherent in some of Freud's conceptions. T he unconscious is stated to operate like a neural network, performing the kind of parallel processing used in the computing of highly complex situations, whereas the conscious mind is sequential. Dreams, in the authors' opinion, are organisers of the mind, imparting order to the turbulence of the underlying wishes and unconscious fantasies and structuring them through the dream work. T hrough dreams, the structured linearity of conscious thought can emerge out of the non-linear chaos of the drives. T he dream's navel can be seen as the chaotic link, or interface, between the unconscious wish, which constitutes an attractor, and the conscious thought. T he attractor may be visualised as having an hourglass or clepsydra shape, the narrow section being the dream's navel, and, being the same at any scale of observation, has the property of fractality. Anyone who hopes to learn the noble game of chess from books will soon discover that only the openings and end-games admit of an exhaustive systematic presentation and that the infinite variety of moves which develop after the opening defy any such description (Freud, 1913, p. 123).