La phénoménologie a-t-elle un intérêt en pédopsychiatrie ?

Abstract

Three points might explain why there is no phenomenological trend in child psychiatry: 1. Historical: fathers of phenomenological psychiatry were inspired by a philosophy in progress that was ignoring the issue of childhood; 2. ideological: fathers of child psychiatry were inspired by psychoanalysis; phenomenological philosophy is usually supposed to be a way of resistance to psychoanalysis; 3. existential: phenomenology is helpful for criticizing adult psychiatrist’s working reality, focused on techniques; child psychiatrist’s playing reality is in itself a natural way of questioning what means living in the world. (N.B. The authors have in mind a specific type of approach of the mental patients, taking its roots in the philosophic works of Eugene Minkowski, Binswanger and a few others. In ancient greek, phainomenon is «what appears». It is in some way close to the true meaning of apcalypsis, i.e. the revelation. While in American psychiatric literature, «Phenomenology» means a kind of inventory of symptoms without an attempt to explain them by looking for a possible meaning. The American phenomenologist can make use of the DSM-IV, the philosophically-minded cannot. 〚Editor’s note〛).