'Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.'

S. Freud

'Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally.'

J. M. Keynes

'For me the value of a climb is the sum of three inseparable elements: aesthetic, history and ethics.'

W. Bonatti

about.

about me.

I am Maria Vittoria Ceschi, born in 1991 in Verona (Italy) and currently living and working in Milan. I am a multi-faceted person, with an interdisciplinary background combining different experiences: research, business analysis, project management. I like to define myself as a perpetual learner, with an insatiable appetite for knowledge. This is the main trait that shapes my identity.

I studied and am studying psychoanalysis and economics, and I currently passionately work in both fields.

I am a passionate entrepreneur seeking to enhance the climbing experience, either outdoor or indoor, by connecting all the actors (climbers, guides, gyms, brands) through an innovative end-to-end platform: NIVA.

I also work as psychoanalyst and I conduct research work focusing mainly on metapsychology, epistemology, and the integration of psychoanalysis with economics.

I love the outdoors, visual arts, and traveling in unusual places.

entrepreneurship

entrepreneurship.

Embarking upon the endeavor of funding a startup company constitutes a formidable and intricate journey fraught with an abundance of uncertainty and multifaceted challenges. I like to compare it to climbing expeditions, characterized by the inherent volatility of landscapes, where nascent enterprises navigate a labyrinthine terrain fraught with financial, market, and operational issues. Indeed, starting a start-up company necessitates a meticulous, complex, and risky orchestration of diverse elements.

Still, this hard work pays off with in-depth knowledge, the ability to understand and manage complexity, and, last but not least, a strong network composed of industry stakeholders, investors and academics. That's why I am always open and keen to share my experience with people interested in my journey and, on the other side, to know other interesting persons and journeys.

So, let's have a virtual coffee together!

My startup company is NIVA, a tech company operating for the climbing industry, learn more here below.

let's have a virtual coffee.

If you are interested in my entrepreneurial journey or would like to learn more about entrepreneurship in general, let's have a coffee together!

book here.

NIVA

NIVA represents an entire ecosystem of services, users and businesses in which shared value is created.

NIVA in a nutshell...

NIVA is the digital knot for the vertical world, designing secure and effective ties between all the actors to create and distribute value. Born from the merger of two previous start-ups (Climby and fjello), NIVA has partnered with some of the most important players in the climbing world and created a community of over 4000 active in-app users.

Climbers in Italy grew by 66% in 2022: a global trend related to all "vertical experiences"; however, these people are not empowered by digital tools to help them live their passions. Moreover, on the B2B side, businesses lack effective marketing channels and industry specific process management tools.

In NIVA, climbers can find a vibrant and well-connected community - a space for networking and improvement - and they can access targeted and convenient products offered by businesses. On the other hand, gyms, brands and event organizers are offered highly specific management and marketing services.

NIVA therefore is the link between all players in the vertical world, offering users an end-to-end experience and B2B stakeholders unprecedented ways to interact with them.

learn more.

psychoanalysis.

I am a Freudian psychoanalyst, trained at the School of Freudian Psychoanalysis (Scuola di Psicanalisi Freudiana - SPF) in Milan, where I also hold the position of Vice President.

At SPF, I had the opportunity to deepen my understanding of psychoanalytic theory and its method of investigation, as well as to explore the naturalistic and rationalistic foundations of psychoanalysis as a science of nature.

Psychoanalysis is the science of the unconscious established by Sigmund Freud. Its body of theory is constituted by Freud’s milestones and by the contributions of later authors who built thereon without fundamental contradictions. In the preface to the “Dictionary of sexology” by Max Marcuse published in 1922, Freud delineated a more precise and detailed definition of psychoanalysis, according to which this is:

firstly, a method for investigating psychological processes otherwise inaccessible;
secondly, a treatment against neurotic disorders, which is based on such investigation;
thirdly, a body of psychological knowledge obtained in this manner, which gradually accumulates and converges into a new scientific field.

As a lay psychoanalyst, I don't provide healthcare advice. Individuals seeking analysis should understand that it is primarily a method of investigation, and the extent of symptom relief depends on their own utilization of the knowledge they gain throughout the process. This means they must be motivated by a genuine curiosity about the causes and development of their symptoms.

The scope of psychoanalytic practice, unless it is a didactic analysis, mainly focuses on psychoneuroses such as obsessive neuroses, phobias, hysterias, and character neuroses. These categories encompass individuals experiencing symptoms like physical issues without an organic basis, anxiety, sexual difficulties, depressed mood, insomnia, disordered eating, obsessions, chronic pain, inhibition, panic, compulsion, and uncontrollable emotions. Additionally, it is important to consider distress within the realm of relationships.

Psychoanalysis is applicable to children, adults, and the elderly, with necessary precautions taken in specific situations.

I work in Milan or online, in Italian, English or French.

book an appointment.

If you are interested in understanding or starting a psychoanalytical treatment you can book a preliminary interview here or directly contact me via the form at the end of the page.

book here.

research.

I conduct research work focusing mainly on metapsychology, epistemology and the integration of psychoanalysis and economics, the latter having been the subject of my university studies.

In particular, I have been investigating the correspondences between neurobiology and psychoanalysis, the logical-epistemological issues of the Freudian method of investigation, and the formalisation of certain structural aspects of psychoanalytic theory.

Last but not least, for some years now, I have been conducting studies on the relations between economics and psychology by integrating the metapsychological perspective regarding topics such as the discussion on the rationality of homo oeconomicus, the analysis of the role and causes of fundamental uncertainty, the psychological dynamics inherent in economic choices (especially with reference to investment choices) and finally about methodological, epistemological and epistemic issues.

You can find my research here.

If you are interested, we can discuss my researched via a dedicated call: book here.

meteconomica

metaeconomica.

Metaeconomica is an under-development project aimed at integrating the metapsychological perspective into economics. The purpose of the project is to question the methodological and epistemic aspects of economic science through the metapsychological lenses and approach. We are currently building the core team around this endeavor. We'll soon launch an independent newsletter, and part of the results will be published in some academic journals. Our manifesto will be soon out.

If you are interested in learning more or collaborating, you can follow the project from our social pages and fill in the form at the end of the page.

We can also discuss via a dedicated call: book here.

multimedia.

The methodological and theoretical limitations of contemporary research in psychotherapy

The purpose of the presentation is to present how research in psychotherapy is flawed by methodological and theoretical errors that have to do with both a misconception of the clinical moment as understood along the lines of medical-pharmacological sciences, and with the very purpose of psychotherapy, which is a healthcare goal.

Some considerations on the formal structure of metapsychology

We demonstrate that the differences between the metapsychology model and the model of the Project are substantial. These depend on the radical change in Freud's approach to the problem of the mind. We show that a proper neurobiological reduction of metapsychology is impossible. We also show that any parallelism between computer science and metapsychology becomes inadmissible if we consider the mind only in terms of its relationship with an organic substrate. It will also be shown how the metapsychological model is actually a physical model.

On the psychoanalytical method of experimental testing of theoretical hypotheses

The objective of this lesson is to provide epistemological assessments of the architecture, the hypotheses and the logical laws which underpin the Freudian method of investigation.
As far as the architecture is concerned it is highlighted how the method is inspired by Systems Theory, in particular putting into temporal logic sequence two Black Boxes which have specific characteristics. With reference to the logical aspect, it is shown how the method makes use of hypotheses and rare and sophisticated laws which underpin the whole architecture, such as Negation as Failure and the Consequentia Mirabilis. It concludes by demonstrating how the entire methodological system is by its nature falsifiable and, specifically, transcendental.

Validating, generalising, formalising

Maria Vittoria Ceschi takes up the method-related issues detailed in the seminar ‘On the psychoanalytic method of experimental testing of theoretical hypotheses’ specifying why Freud opted for such a configuration and specifically why the intraclinical method. The most common objections to psychoanalysis with reference to the stages of validation, generalisation and formalisation are presented, showing with solid arguments how these objections are in fact inconsistent.

In the second part of the lecture, Franco Baldini presents a novel elaboration on drive dynamics, showing how they can be represented through real vector operations.