Revue critique sur le potentiel du numérique dans la recherche en psychopathologie : un point de vue psychanalytique

Abstract

ObjectivesThis paper proposes a critical review with the objective of reflecting on what is involved in the integration of digital tools in patient observation through the example of digital phenotyping, which is an emerging method in mental health. The review situates the place of psychoanalysis in this international context of observational research in psychopathology. MethodA corpus has been selected on the situation of numerical phenotyping in the context of the debate on mental health classifications and on the problematic field of the digital, from the point of view of the international psychoanalytical literature. In order to reconstruct this field, we selected critical texts that situate the current debate on epistemological orientations in mental health, the available literature concerning digital phenotyping as a method of investigation in mental health research, as well as the psychoanalytical literature that situates the problematic field resulting from this orientation in relation to the challenges of digital technology, both from a clinical and methodological point of view. ResultsThe use of smartphones is now one of the avenues explored that should be considered when thinking about the ethical issues involved. It appears that psychoanalysis has a specific perspective on the challenges of digital technology and mobile phones in the lives of subjects, which demonstrates its place in the interdisciplinary debate. DiscussionThis critical reflection allows for a discussion that goes beyond subjects’ digital behavior. The exploration of the literature allows us to discuss the problem of reductionism in mental health as an obstacle to grasping the specifics of clinical issues. ConclusionThe network theory is thus convened as a model of a holistic approach in which the contribution of psychoanalysis could be restituted.