Nuove considerazioni per una collaborazione tra psicoanalisi e pedagogia speciale: linee generali e traiettorie di ricerca

The article makes some considerations about the collaboration between psychoanalysis and special pedagogy, addressing the need to enter the debate on the various theoretical and practical approaches that currently animate special pedagogy. The paper argues that, among the various avenues of research and possible study, one way in particular realizes the interface between psychoanalysis and special pedagogy. Such an element is found within a strategic place in special pedagogy of the concept of the barrier, which meets a specific equivalent in psychoanalysis in the concept of defense mechanism: defense towards otherness, the acceptance of diversity, the access to understanding, and in the final analysis to the emotional pain of others and their own. In this way, some areas of exploration and intervention are reviewed, in which the contribution of psychoanalysis, a reference to its concepts and its constructs, and its basic perspective may prove fruitful for research in special education.