This article focuses on the concept of ‘precariousness’ as a source of individual and social suffering, utilising a psychoanalytic perspective to explore its effects within a broader social, political, economic and anthro- pological context.
The outbreak of precariousness as a phenomenon and the social exclusion of new minority groups in metropolitan Athens poses new questions for the psychoanalytic community, warranting as it does the development of new theoretical constructs, with diverse approaches in their implementation, in an attempt to effectively conceptualise, and thus treat, the ‘unseen’ as a ‘non-object appeal’ for psychotherapeutic support. The exploration of clinical material derived from the homeless Athens, through a psychoanalytic perspective engenders a host of complex issues in terms of the comprehension, treatment and further exploration of the limited ‘responses’ offered by an indecisive mental health service system thrown off balance and often powerless in the face of this new ‘liquid reality’.
