ABSTRACT
Sanity is the result of a process whereby the use and the impact of primitive defences slowly decreases. Subjectivity and relative neurotic normality appear as genuinely heroic achievements. Andre Green introduced a distinction between madness and psychosis. Madness is not pathological; it is linked to “the vicissitudes of a primordial Eros”. While psychosis, in modern times, describes any mental illness accompanied by hallucinations, delusions, mental confusion, and/or loss of contact with reality, madness is a more inclusive concept: it describes a multiplicity of phenomena, from insanity to rage, anger, or violence. Piera Aulagnier speaks of a psychotic potentiality in the baby, a madness that in normal circumstances can be contained within the relationship with the mother. In his description of the fundamental anthropological situation of the human infant, J. Laplanche introduced the concept of intromission, a “violent variant” of the normal process of implantation.
