Le devenir des enfants suivis en psychiatrie : premières enquêtes rétrospectives d'évaluation

Abstract

Lors du premier Congrès Mondial de Psychiatrie (Paris, septembre 1950), sont présentés les premiers résultats d'enquêtes rétrospectives portant sur le devenir des enfants suivis à la consultation de Georges Heuyer entre 1925 et 1939, devenus adultes. Initiée par Heuyer et conduite par Louis Le Guillant, l'enquête parisienne, la plus importante (elle porte sur près de 1000 sujets), donne des résultats qui inquiètent et surprennent ses promoteurs. Les facteurs étiologiques alors privilégiés de l'inadaptation infantile (la constitution, la dissociation familiale) se sont révélés sans effet sur l'adaptation ultérieure, pas plus que les traitements et les techniques de rééducation mis en œuvre. L'auteur présente la genèse et le déroulement de cette enquête et analyse sa réception ainsi que l'oubli relatif dans lequel elle a sombré, en les resituant dans le contexte historique et social des années 1950. Elle cherche à en préciser les enjeux historiques et contemporains. During the First World Psychiatry Congress (held in Paris in September 1950) the preliminary results of retrospective surveys carried out on the mid-term outcome of children who had been given psychiatric treatment by George Heuyer's group between 1925 and 1939, and who had since become adult, were presented. The Paris survey, which was the most important of its kind (it included about 1000 subjects), was initiated by Heuyer and led by Louis Le Guillant. It yielded results that both perplexed and surprised its proponents. At the onset, etiological factors were held responsible for childhood maladjustment (constitution, familial dissociation); however, these factors were found to have no effect upon the subsequent adaptation of the former patients, and neither were the original treatment approaches and reeducation techniques involved. The author describe how this survey was set up and carried out, analyzed why and how it was received, explained why it subsequently sank into relative obscurity, and situates it within the social and historical context of the 1950s. She has also attempted to determine its historical and contemporary significance.