Book Review “Chile: A Pending Grieving Process. Forgivness, Reconciliation, Social Agreement”, by Ricardo Capponi, Editorial Andrés Bello, Santiago, 1999.
Capponi’s aforementioned book addresses the psychological and political dimension of the country over 30 years, since the 1970s decade, focusing directly on the situation of an unresolved grief, as the title of the book suggests. It must be taken into account that this book came to light at a time when “Pinochet had been arrested in London and the Government had formed a Round-Table discussion to move forward on everything that had been pending by the Rettig Commission, such as, among other things, the location of the disappeared detainees.” (Tironi, (2019) in the prologue of Capponi’s “Solid Happiness”, aludes to this historic moment) Both events are usefull in order to understand the context of the time, in which traumatic situations linked to the historical and ideological conflict that kept Chilean citizenship divided, were still very present in a large proportion of the population. It is, therefore, very important to take this fact into account while analysing the possible applications of Capponi’s writings to the present times.
To explore the unfinished historical process of this unresolved grief, the author, has done a meticulous work of description, analysis and reflection of this situation in Chile, from the perspective of psychoanalytic theory. With this frame of reference, he makes a contribution to the application of psychology to the social dimension, particularly, in the domain of institutional and ideological tensions, with conceptual scaffolding from the works of Klein, Bion, Moscovici, Alford, Kernberg and himself.
It is interesting to observe that the mentioned challenge, in this 21 years old book, could remain current in the face of the crisis that Chile is presently going through, in the domain of the expression of unresolved grief and their consequences. This invites us to reread and rethink Capponi’s proposal, this time from an existential analytical perspective, keeping in mind the idea to fertilize the path and going forward, developing a society capable of making agreements that enables fulfilling existences.
Broadly speaking, this book has 3 parts, preceded by some basic concepts of psychoanalysis, operating as a frame of reference throughout the work.
The first part of the book consists of 3 chapters. The first chapter focuses on grief at the individual level. The second, is about the dialectic relationship of the aggressor and the victim, and the mental states that each of them goes through during grief. The third chapter considers how can reconciliation occur and what are its conditions.
The second part of the book focuses on the psychological analysis of social reconciliation, addressing the conflict and its elaboration, describing the operating mechanisms at the individual level to reach the necessary state of maturity for the elaboration of the grieving process, differentiating them from the mechanisms that could be used at a social level, in the understanding that, at this level, only a neurotic state can be achieved.
In the third and final part, the process of social grieving is explored from the perspective of the link between leadership and reparation, showing how leaders, art, religion and social sciences, can support the transit of the neurotic collective state towards individual maturity, which makes possible the elaboration of the grieving process.
From another point of view, the book illustrates the situation of division, manicheanism and excision that has been happening in Chile, at the ideological level, for almost 30 years, but not only that: As Kernkerg rightly states in the prologue, his main contribution is to point out a possible and gradual way for the elaboration of the grieving process. Considering, in his vision, the Kleinian object relations theory, the primitive mental mechanisms and the regressive dimension of the phenomena of mass psychology, the author poses a model for groups, organizations and leadership, to be applied to the cultural and national political context. In the light of clarifying the leadership proposition, there is an important novelty regarding the solutions routes at a country level.
By characterizing the polarized dimension of what was happening in the country, he clarifies one of the phenomena of pendularity that characterized the situation of almost 30 years (preceding 1999). Thus, he pointed out the scenarios of dualism, confrontation, polarization through hatred and aggression, wich caused unilateral and partial ethical solutions for one interest group, and the exclusion of the other.
In the polarization and division of the partial perspectives of the extreme left and right group, as a whole, the dehumanized treatment was forged, which was evident in the actions of certain sectors of the armed forces towards members of the opposition and the left.
Capponi assumes that recognizing the own role that each of the actors in conflict played as a participant in the cause of the division, is the central axis of the reaction or response of the grieving process, as a way to search for a national agreement – though this is not yet, or necessarily, a national reconciliation.
The stages proposed by the author of the grieving process on a personal level (paranoid, maniac and neurotic regressions), are not equivalent nor do they correspond to a direct translation of those that occur at the level of groups and masses (the social) For this reason, we need functional leadership (Kernberg) to consciously face and elaborate grief. To overcome the regressive background of the behavior of the mass, we need for the functional leaders to act, who, by operating and mediating from “groups of work”, can neutralize the dominance of paranoid and narcissistic tendencies to achieve a “social agreement “, more than a” reconciliation “. The book certainly shows us a clear differentiation, between the individual and the social dimensions, but at the same time, it establishes a possible way for agreements by the “group” path.
I think this book may represent an interesting contribution to psychoanalytic application in social and political conflicts by questioning the unilaterality of the instrumental reason, and proposing an alternative in restorative reason and the elaboration of a social grieving process, without the utopia of reconciliation.
Finally, I consider it to be a book with current potential, which invites us to reflect, comment and work with others, regardless the psychological paradigm they hold, and this can be taken as a call to find ourselves in the elaboration of the grieving process in Chile. Especially because it enlightens us to understand the polarizing phenomenon that, with different characteristics from those of the late 90s, is manifested strongly since the social outburst of October 2019.
Because Existential Analysis refers to the grieving process as a response to the loss of something/someone valuable or a fundamental value, its focus on the relationship, the depression and what is left pending, allows us to observe not only the individual level, but also at the group, institutional and collective level. The Existential Analysis perspective goes beyond an analytical-regressive methodology (as is the case from the traditional analytical point), proposing, mainly, an articulated action of the fundamental motivations in a synthetic and progressive background projected to the future.
By this, I refer to the generation of meaningful projects, driven by forms of conscious leadership (from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Fundamental Motivations of Existence) and social meaning (4thMF). This is not an imposed “Meaning”, which would imply going back to a fragmentary ideology, typical of a paranoid, manic or narcissistic reading (regressive, according to the text). It is, then, considering,the social horizon of the agreement, a possible communication, as an alternative to the framework of “meaning or shared vision”.
From the perspective of Existential Analysis, the source of possible agreements is based (1st MF), in the access to the direct, existential reference of a heartfelt and shared life, and not in a pre-factual meaning, formulated as transcendent. The same formula of a general, polar, previous meaning involves forcing others to accept it, which appears immeasurable. This could be especially important to observe when considering the level of understanding in the coordinated action with others, which in the book refers to the maturity dimension in the group, unattainable for the collectives. Of course, that means that we could (by talking about the same thing, from intimacy to the most social), subject it to review and learn. But if we freeze grief and speak with the same previous ideological meanings, articulated as dual systems of individual communication, without social integration, the grief will continue to be pending, such that, when perpetuated, the elaboration of grief will continue to be stagnated.
