A study that involved persons suffering psychosis, carried out by Social and Human Science Department
of Perugia University, has proved in 9 participants in amniotic therapy a significant improvement of life quality, paticularly related to social relations and working capacity (Peciccia et al. 2015).

The encouraging data of this research have let to extend the experimental research by valuating the
results not only by a clinical and psychodynamical point of view but also by a neurophysiological point of view. So the Neurosciences Department of Parma University with the team guided by Vittorio Gallese who is known for the discovery of mirror neurons, has assisted to the Social and Human Science Department of Perugia University to build togheter an experimental model to evaluate empirically the sense of self in patients suffering psychosis (Ardizzi et al. 2016).

First results of this experimental model have evidenced in a single case, after three years of amniotic therapy, the disappearance of delirium and parallel net improvement of neurophysiological parameters indexes of the bodly self integrity (Peciccia et al. 2017).

Therefore the experimental research on amniotic therapy so far conducted only on single patients has been extended to a group of 40 patients and it involves in addition to PErugia and Parma University also the Redancia Group which has realized a specific pool for amniotic therapy at the therapeutic community “Agriellera” in Montezemolo and the Mental Health Department of ASLRoma1 which uses a pool for the amniotic therapy at the ex-psychiatric hospital Santa Maria della Pietà in Rome. The trail was started in 2018 and it’s actually in progress.

Bibliography

Peciccia M, Mazzeschi C, Donnari S & Buratta L (2015). A Sensory-Motor Approach for Patients with a Diagnosis of Psychosis. Some Data from an Empirical Investigation on Amniotic Therapy. Psychosis.
Vol.7 N. 2, P.141-151, DOI: 10.1080/17522439.2014.926560

Ardizzi M, Ambrosecchia M, Buratta L, Ferri F, Peciccia M, Donnari S, Mazzeschi C, Gallese V (2016)
Interoception and Positive Symptoms in Schizophrenia.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2016; 10: 379.
Published online 2016 Jul 27. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00379.
PMCID: PMC4961721 Interoception and Positive Symptoms in Schizophrenia.

Peciccia M, Ambrosecchia M, Buratta L, Germani A, Mazzeschi C, Gallese V
Constructing the Sense of Self in Psychosis: a Single Case Study. In “The Intersubjective Revolution. Implications for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy”.
Università degli Studi di Bergamo, Aula Magna S. Agostino. 19-20 maggio 2017