The following article is based on the presentation of a book by Nicolò Terminio at the COIRAG headquarters in Rome on 18 October 2024. The book, which deals in an in-depth and innovative way with the functioning of borderline personalities, which the author defines as “swarming”, is evocative not only in its title but also in its content, which harmoniously transplants and enriches the Lacanian clinic. The borderline patient carries with him a traumatic (sometimes complex) experience that has its origins in the relationship with the key person, with the Other who has unfortunately been neglectful, disorganised or abusive. This life experience of trauma, dysphoria and dissociation, which the author calls “stable instability”, is reversed by the patient in the relationship with the therapist, as in all other relationships. But it is precisely in the caring relationship that it is possible to give meaning, a plot, to this person who has no psychic structure but a swarm. The author will try to interweave Terminio’s words with his own clinical experience, imagining a dialogue aimed at comparing and integrating clinical knowledge and care practices.
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