Quelle volonté pour le sujet psychotique ? Approche historico-critique

Abstract

ObjectivesThis paper sets out to explore the issue of will in the case of psychosis. Does a psychotic subject lack will? How should the phenomena of aboulia, apragmatism and negativism be viewed? How far is a psychotic subject able to actually want something? And if there is a will, what is its nature? Our aim here is to give an account of this difficulty or even inability to want or to will things among psychotic individuals, invoking structural reasons. MethodsThis study begins with a historical overview of the concept of will in the classic psychiatry of the 19th century, a period in which the notions of a “sick” or “damaged” will prevailed. ResultsWe will show that the conception of will in the area of psychopathology was to change radically with the arrival of psychoanalytic theory. From the second half of the 20th century, the articulation of will with desire according to J. Lacan led to a quite new conception of will. DiscussionThe emphasis will be placed on the reasons why it is not easy for the psychotic subject to want something. The will he mainly has to deal with is the will of the “Other”, an intrusive will, sometimes ferocious, filled with “Jouissance” towards him, and against which he must protect himself. ConclusionThe ability to want or will something cannot be learned. Will is something that is constructed and elaborated in relationships between the subject and the “Other”. The so-called “pathologies of the will”, or the descriptions of psychotic subjects as aboulic and lacking will-power, should in fact encourage a reappraisal of the relationships of the subject with the “Other”, and an exploration of the means of defense that the subject deploys to guard himself from the intrusive will of the “Other”.