Testimony as an anti-traumatic dimension in Paediatric Psycho-Oncology.

When facing the occurrence of an oncologic therapy with a paediatric patient, the families are severed out of a whole period of life when the child recovers, or they are for ever mutilated if the child dies. Such a private battle against the illness is either gained or lost. From previous research experiences it is known that one of the worst feelings for the families is the bitter suspicion that all efforts could have been useless not only for practical reasons, but also from a personal point of view. When trying to provide support to these people one has to consider that in the mourning reactions of the families a key point is represented by the biblical sentence: “Rachel is crying for her children and she does not want to be consoled as they are not there anymore”. This means that parents would possibly refuse an overt help (she does not want to be consoled), especially those who are more in need for it as they are deeply traumatized. On the other hand parents can be motivated to put their personal experience at disposal for other families who are affording the same difficulties: as shown by the results of a phenomenologic-hermeneutic study that was recently concluded at the Neurosurgery Ward of the Paediatric A.Meyer Hospital in Florence, this chance induces a positive reaction in the often exhausted parents and appears to improve the overall emotional state of the families. From a psychodynamic perspective, the possibility for the loss and even despair feelings to be acknowledged and accepted in a space that is devoted to a fine tuned listening, but also opens up to future hopes and projects, can be compared to the function that Ferenczi used to name as ‘the trustful friend’s support’, a preminent anti-traumatic psychological function in his theorisation. In order to achieve an active endorsement of this function in a professional context, I argue here that at least three conditions must be fulfilled: the soundness of the methodological frame in which the intervention takes place must be carefully maintained, the involvement in a devoted listening attitude must be granted by constant self-reflection and finally the researchers should derive their credibility also from the firm belief to be sharing with the parents the condition of human beings who are facing a typically human dramatic event.