Against the tide: psychodynamic approaches to agitated childhood in France, between crisis and resistance

Céline Borelle,Amélie Turlais,Jean-Sébastien Eideliman,Maïa Fansten,Maëlle Planche

doi:10.1590/s0104-12902019181114

Céline Borelle, Amélie Turlais + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-12902019181114

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Abstract

Abstract Is psychoanalysis in crisis? This theme turned out to be recurrent in the comments of professionals working with a psychoanalytical orientation that we encountered during a collective survey on the trajectories of children considered as agitated in France. During this research, we conducted interviews with children and their families, with professionals working in care centres, schools and public administration; we also conducted observations and collected data in care centres. In these places, we observed a diversity of practices, but a clear majority of which claimed to be more or less strictly psychoanalytical or more broadly psychodynamic approaches. After presenting some principles that underlie the psychodynamic approach of agitation, the article discusses the crisis feeling expressed by the professionals met and the reasons that may have caused it. A detour through a reflective analysis of our investigative relationships helps to shed more light on the consequences of this climate on daily work in general and on relations with institutional partners in particular.

Highlights

La psychanalyse est-elle en crise ? Ce thème s’est avéré récurrent dans les propos des professionnels travaillant selon une orientation psychanalytique que nous avons croisés lors d’une enquête collective sur les trajectoires des enfants considérés comme agités en France
We interviewed children and their families (77 interviews with 59 different families), as well as professionals working in care centers (45 interviews), schools (21 interviews) and homes for the disabled (12 interviews)
While we observed a diversity of practices in these care institutions, a clear majority claimed to adhere to a greater or lesser degree to strictly psychoanalytical or, more broadly, psychodynamic2 approaches

Summary

Introduction

La psychanalyse est-elle en crise ? Ce thème s’est avéré récurrent dans les propos des professionnels travaillant selon une orientation psychanalytique que nous avons croisés lors d’une enquête collective sur les trajectoires des enfants considérés comme agités en France. The health centers that we studied (CMP4, day hospitals, etc.) fall within the realm of public psychiatry and receive a wide variety of patients, in terms both of symptoms and of social conditions In this context, professionals who practice psychodynamic approaches are defensive. Through our survey on the backgrounds of children considered to be agitated we met only some professionals using psychodynamic approaches in very specific conditions, which does not allow for a general overview of their situation or even their impressions. In support of this framework of interpretation, the professionals we met frequently pointed out the fact that children in care are not agitated everywhere, in all their life contexts According to them, this shows that agitation is not linked to an irrepressible tendency towards disorderly movement, but rather a defensive reaction to certain disturbing situations related to the psychological and social history of the child. A sense of crisis is developing among professionals whose work is grounded within a psychoanalytical approach

Crisis and sense of crisis

The challenge of working in partnership