We welcome this testimony with emotion and respect: “WHEN CARE BECOMES LIFE” by FABIO SALVATORE, author of “Cenere Zero” (Zero Ashes), patient and friend of psychotherapist MARIA RITA PARSI.
“There are encounters that save not only a therapeutic journey, but an entire person. For me, this was my encounter with Maria Rita. In August 2023, at one of the most fragile moments of my life, marked by a painful divorce, a previous bout with cancer, and living with fibromyalgia on a daily basis, Maria Rita represented an essential anchor, capable of holding my heart, soul, and mind together when everything was at risk of falling apart.
The first public meeting
Before that, our meetings had mainly taken place in public and on television, particularly on Eleonora Daniele’s talk show, a place for listening and discussion that I now feel even more strongly, with gratitude and affection.
Beyond the clinical setting
In the relationship between patient and therapist, there are rare cases where bonds are formed that go beyond the clinical setting and become a profound human companionship.
At that time, I was not just a patient, but a lost person, physically and spiritually exhausted, lacking direction and confidence. My inner suffering had taken on the contours of a real illness of the soul, intertwined with the weight of physical illness and chronic pain.
Maria Rita took me by the hand with her constant, rigorous, and deeply human presence. She was able to combine professional competence with genuine care for the person, without judgment and without shortcuts.
In the most extreme moments
She was by my side in the most difficult moments, helping me to bear the weight of illness, emotional fractures, and loneliness.
In the most extreme moments, when the inner darkness had become unbearable and the temptation to give up on life had become real, her support was decisive.
With her listening ear, firmness, and maternal presence, she helped me understand what love really is: not as an abstract concept, but as a continuous act of responsibility, containment, and restoration of dignity.
Today
Today I am left with a deep pain and a sense of loss that I cannot yet put into words. The absence of such an essential reference point leaves a void that is difficult to name and to live with. Continuing on the path without that presence requires a courage that, at this moment, I struggle to recognize as my own.
I write from this point of fracture, with gratitude and with an open wound, entrusting myself to what has been given to me and what remains, even when everything else seems to be missing.
