On the functionality of symptoms and problems - The professional pretexts of clinical psychology

The authors propose a reflection on the function of the symptoms and problems complained of by the patient. Their story, at the beginning of psychotherapy, serves as a pretext to justify and start the treatment relationship, to reactivate also in the therapeutic relationship the relational modalities that the patient normally lives in his context, and to restart and widen, thanks to the symbolic value of the symptom, the referential process that connects the sub symbolic and non-verbal symbolic system. In this sense, problems and symptoms are based on psychological professionalism as a competence to read, use therapeutically and orient the relationship that the patient proposes to the psychotherapist through the symptoms.