Masochism is a concept which, over time, has served as an instrument for understanding the complexity of the human psyche and motivational resorts, especially in its most paradoxical aspects, those of combining pleasure with pain and suffering, as a solution for managing various failures and traumas, and maybe as a defense against psychological disorganisation.

In this workshop, we will explore the measure to which this concept can complete a puzzle towards a deeper understanding of psychological games, at an intrapsychic, group or organisational level. The way in which we choose to spend our time in a group, the intention with which we go into an interaction, the communication and type of relationship between managers and subalterns, all these can either stimulate growth and autonomy, or, on the contrary, they can strengthen the feeling of helplessness and the paradoxical solution which masochism offers in this context.

This understanding may increase the degree of compassion and empathy for the complexity of human nature, and maybe for the most resistant clients and the greatest challenges we can encounter in the psychotherapeutic practice.