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Adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization

One way to conceptualize human life is to describe it as a process through which the biological body is progressively transformed into a psychological one through its mentalization and symbolization. This process occurs through the relational field, which begins with caregiver-infant proto-conversat...

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Autores principales: Carta, Stefano, Cataudella, Stefania
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9493360/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36160523
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.932863
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author Carta, Stefano
Cataudella, Stefania
author_facet Carta, Stefano
Cataudella, Stefania
author_sort Carta, Stefano
collection PubMed
description One way to conceptualize human life is to describe it as a process through which the biological body is progressively transformed into a psychological one through its mentalization and symbolization. This process occurs through the relational field, which begins with caregiver-infant proto-conversations and develops through adolescence into the ongoing complex interpersonal relational network we call society and culture. The essence and the problems of adolescents are intricately tied to the social and cultural contexts in which they experience life. Therefore, adolescence cannot be understood if all the levels that it expresses (biological, psychological cultural/social) are not taken into consideration. We identify three psycho-historical phases through which adolescence has changed in the past century: (1) Oedipal; (2) Narcissistic; and (3) Post-narcissistic. In this last phase due to the psychological and historical failure of the narcissistic ideals, the ideal is mingling with the real in a wholly new way. This process has overturned Erikson's paradigm: identity, opposed and defined by a dichotomic otherness, must be transformed into a fluid integration of similarities and differences negotiated and developed through empirical interpersonal intersubjective experiences. This, in our perspective, is a possible key to understand the rapid change in the nature of consciousness, selfhood, and gendering in today's western world, together with some important psychopathological disorders which describe the new creative challenges of today's adolescents.
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spelling pubmed-94933602022-09-23 Adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization Carta, Stefano Cataudella, Stefania Front Psychol Psychology One way to conceptualize human life is to describe it as a process through which the biological body is progressively transformed into a psychological one through its mentalization and symbolization. This process occurs through the relational field, which begins with caregiver-infant proto-conversations and develops through adolescence into the ongoing complex interpersonal relational network we call society and culture. The essence and the problems of adolescents are intricately tied to the social and cultural contexts in which they experience life. Therefore, adolescence cannot be understood if all the levels that it expresses (biological, psychological cultural/social) are not taken into consideration. We identify three psycho-historical phases through which adolescence has changed in the past century: (1) Oedipal; (2) Narcissistic; and (3) Post-narcissistic. In this last phase due to the psychological and historical failure of the narcissistic ideals, the ideal is mingling with the real in a wholly new way. This process has overturned Erikson's paradigm: identity, opposed and defined by a dichotomic otherness, must be transformed into a fluid integration of similarities and differences negotiated and developed through empirical interpersonal intersubjective experiences. This, in our perspective, is a possible key to understand the rapid change in the nature of consciousness, selfhood, and gendering in today's western world, together with some important psychopathological disorders which describe the new creative challenges of today's adolescents. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-09-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9493360/ /pubmed/36160523 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.932863 Text en Copyright © 2022 Carta and Cataudella. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Carta, Stefano
Cataudella, Stefania
Adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization
title Adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization
title_full Adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization
title_fullStr Adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization
title_full_unstemmed Adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization
title_short Adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization
title_sort adolescence between biology and culture a perspective on the crisis of symbolization
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9493360/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36160523
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.932863
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