Massimo Fagioli

Massimo Fagioli (Monte Giberto, 19 May 1931 - Rome, 13 February 2017) was an Italian psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He is best known for his “Human Birth Theory” which aims to define the roots and causes of mental illness in order to propose a structure for diagnosis and psychotherapeutic cure. Fagioli drew his theory from a theoretical framework that encompasses both the physiology of birth and the beginning of human thought. He is also known for the “Analisi Collettiva”, a form of psychotherapeutic group practice that he ran continuously for more than 40 years between January 1975 and December 2016. His medical theory and practice represent the core of “Il sogno della farfalla” psychiatric periodical. Fagioli was born on 19 May 1931 in Monte Giberto, a commune situated near Fermo, Marche. During the World War II he was a partisan runner, fighting on the battlefield alongside his father, a medical doctor and surgeon. He graduated in medicine and surgery in Rome in 1956 and then specialised in Neuropsychiatry in Modena. He died on 13 February 2017.