The labor of fragility: Malaise in the natives of the new millennium

Abstract

In this study we collocate adolescence within a broader and more present-day scenario than has been the case in psychological and psychoanalytic literature in recent years. Our analysis of this evolutionary passage and its malaise includes contextual and other aspects that condition its real development. We consider the features of contemporary Western society and naturally place them within an increasingly planetary vision of the subject, given that the culture pervading the Western world, although complex, appears to be sufficiently uniform with some specific aspects. We propose a contemporary interpretation of the developmental process of the second decade of life and the forms of malaise it can produce. In this respect, two adolescent conditions are emblematic: self-closure and anorexiform eating disorders. These conditions express paradigmatically some characteristics of subjective adolescent malaise.

Key words:

• adolescence
• self-closure
• psychoanalysis
• developmental psychology
• anorexia
• narcissism

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fabio Vanni

Fabio Vanni is a psychologist and psychotherapist who works in Italian mental health service with adolescents and young people and their families. He is an associate of SIPRe, the Società Italiana di Psicoanalisi della Relazione, and teaches clinical psychology of adolescence at Parma University, Italy.