Le présent thèse cherche à explorer le statut épistémologique de la Psychiatrie. En prenant la question de la méthode (“Methodenfrage”) comme fil directeur, nous discuterons la question de savoir dans quelle mesure la Psychiatrie, entendue comme une discipline clinique, est autorisée à emprunter les principes méthodologiques en usage dans les sciences humaines. Dans ce contexte une importance capitale sera accordée à l’analyse des développements conceptuels de la Psychopathologie de langue allemande dans la période suivant la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale. Le point de départ de ce travail sera l’analyse de la dichotomie introduite par Karl Jaspers entre “Erklären” (expliquer) et “Verstehen” (comprendre) ainsi que celle des limites épistémologiques de ces deux modes d’accès à l’anormalité psychique qu’est la schizophrénie. La deuxième partie de ce travail sera consacrée à l’analyse de l’élargissement sur le plan méthodologique des limites du “Verstehen” dans la psychopathologie de la schizophrénie. Dans ce cadre nous analyserons les conséquences de l’introduction de la “Situation analyse” et du concept d’“ordre” (comme principe organisateur de la vie psychique et sociale) pour la psychopathologie de la schizophrénie. A la lumière des résultats acquis nous analyserons les apports de ce développement conceptuel de la psychopathologie allemande pour les tentatives de conceptualisation des normes dans les théories psychiatriques sur la schizophrénie. / This thesis explores the ways in which psychiatrists and researchers have developed new tools to deal with the unknown in psychiatric classifications. In the following four chaptersI seek to understand why the modes of thinking that dominated late nineteenth century psychiatry have proved to be durable and stable, and why the history of what is now called schizophrenia is the history of psychiatry itself.In this context, I situate my argument within the debates regarding the historiography of psychiatry, and more specifically the historiography of schizophrenia.My approach can be understood as an attempt to move away from common approaches to the history of psychiatric classifications.In my view, the influence of German psychiatry, from Griesinger’s unitary psychosis to Bleuler’s schizophrenia tells us more about psychiatry and its modes of conceptualization, than thus far recognized.Against the narratives that presuppose a direct line of development, I argue that the path starting with primäre Verrücktheit—one of the most commonly diagnosed psychic diseases in 1870s – leading to ”paranoia”—a term used as synonym for insanity by most authors in the1880s and 1890s – and ending in “dementia praecox” and schizophrenia was not a linear one.By tracing the detours followed by psychiatric research in the last three decades of the nineteenth century, I show how, paradoxically, the progress in the special nosology delayedconsiderably the future development in psychiatric theories.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not adults with psychotic disorders, who were formerly in foster care, are more likely to report a lesser quality of life as compared to a matched sample with no history of foster care.

En nous référant aux théorisations de l’épistémologie psychanalytique, nous concevons la schizophrénie comme résultant d’une expérience traumatique primaire n’ayant pu être intégrée au sein de la subjectivité. Ce traumatisme, nous le rattachons moins à un évènement en tant que tel qu’à la position impensable qu’il désigne pour le sujet. Ainsi, en nous inspirant de la pensée de P. Aulagnier et de R. Roussillon, nous suggérons que le noyau traumatique conditionnant le développement d’une problématique schizophrénique se rapporte à la position d’objet pulsionnel, ou de non-désir, à laquelle se trouve identifié le sujet au sein des premiers échanges avec son environnement. <p><p>Face à l’impensable de cette position identificatoire, le sujet se voit contraint de s’extraire de la scène relationnelle avec ses objets primaires, se clivant par la même opération du capital représentatif qui lui est associé. Dans ces conditions, nous pensons que le délire, moins d’apparaître comme une production pathologique dépourvue de sens, correspond à un mode de réponse face au retour hallucinatoire de l’impensé traumatique. Aussi, à partir d’une méthodologie qualitative basée sur l’analyse d’une douzaine de cas cliniques, nous mettons en évidence trois principales fonctions du délire dans la schizophrénie. La première, conceptualisée sous le terme de « fonction contenante », procède à la mise en forme et à la transformation signifiante de ce qui ne put être symbolisé de l’expérience traumatique. La seconde, nommée « fonction localisante », tente de situer en dehors du sujet le débordement pulsionnel inhérent au traumatisme primaire. La troisième, appelée « fonction identifiante », permet à la personne délirante de s’attribuer un énoncé identificatoire qui, de manière auto-créée, supplée à l’énigme de son histoire insensée.<p><p>Enfin, l’analyse de nos données cliniques souligne que ces trois fonctions de l’activité délirante ne se réalisent pas de façon aléatoire mais qu’elles s’articulent selon une logique particulière. Ainsi, nous suggérons qu’à partir de sa triple opération le délire schizophrénique tend à se déployer en un « processus délirant », par lequel le sujet peut rendre pensable et supportable la position traumatique à laquelle il a été identifié au cours de son histoire.<p><p><p>By following theories from the psychoanalytical epistemology, we consider schizophrenia as the result of a primary trauma that has not been assimilated within the subjectivity. We connect less this traumatism with an event than with the unthinkable position the subject is identified to. Therefore, being inspired by the thought of P. Aulagnier and R. Roussillon, we suggest that the traumatic nucleus which conditions the development of schizophrenia is related to the position of instinctual object, or of non-desire, to which the subject is identified within the first exchanges with his environment. <p><p>In view of this unthinkable position, the subject is forced to remove himself from the relationship with his primary objects, splitting off from the representative capital that is associated with it. In these conditions, we think that the delusion appears less as a meaningless pathological production than as a way of answering to the hallucinatory return of the traumatic unthought. From a qualitative methodology based on the analysis of a dozen clinical cases, we highlight three main functions of the delusion in schizophrenia. The first, conceptualized under the term «containing function», carries out the shaping and the significant transformation of what could have not been symbolized of the traumatic experience. The second, called «localizing function», tries to locate outside of the subject the instinctual overflow inherent to the primary trauma. The third, named «identifying function», enables the delusional person to assume an identificatory principle which, in a self-created way, compensates for the enigma of his senseless history.<p><p>Finally, the analysis of our clinical data underlines that these three functions of the delusional activity are not randomly accomplished but are organized according to a particular logic. Thus from its triple operation, we suggest that the schizophrenic delusion tends to develop into a «delusional process», by which the subject can make thinkable and bearable the traumatic position to which he was identified during his history.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

published_or_final_version / Mental Health / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Mental Health / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Considering the explanations of schizophrenia that presume schizophrenia spectrum disorders (e.g., schizotypal personality disorder, schizoaffective disorder, etc.) to be genetically related to schizophrenia, the purpose of this study was to investigate the attention and information processing abilities of individuals who have been identified as schizotypal or psychosis-prone (i.e., schizophrenia spectrum functioning in individuals who do not have schizophrenia). Research indicates that persons identified as psychosis-prone may show attention and information processing deficits similar to individuals with schizophrenia. The identification and description of individuals who later decompensate into schizophrenia would advance the understanding of schizophrenia and its causes. The Chapman's PER-MAG scale (Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation) was used to identify 35 hypothetically psychosis-prone college students (schizotypy group) and 42 normal college students (nonschizotypy group) out of the 806 volunteer subjects. Their attention and information processing abilities were measured by COGLAB (a multiparadigmatic cognitive test battery that represents a continuum of cognitive functions, from preattentional to attentional, to conceptual). Their social adjustment was measured by the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS). The hypotheses of the study were that the hypothetically psychosis-prone subjects would perform poorer than controls on COGLAB measures and that COGLAB measures of a more molar nature would better predict social adjustment than would the more molecular tasks. The results of the study did not support the hypotheses as there were no significant differences between the schizotypy group and the nonschizotypy group and the measures of a more molar nature did not better predict social adjustment. Further research might consider increasing the sample size, applying more stringent cut-off criteria for the schizotypy group, and verifying the validity of using PER-MAG, COGLAB, and PAS with this population. Further research also needs to clarify the ways in which those identified as psychosis-prone process information like (or unlike) nonschizotypes and how their current social functioning might be related to their deficiencies.

Many psychotic patients fail to admit they are mentally ill. The current study evaluated the associations between insight, specific symptoms, and neurocognitive impairments. Thirty-three acute inpatients with a schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or psychotic disorder NOS diagnosis were rated on the SAIE, Birchwood's IS, and the BPRS. Neurocognitive assessments of attention and frontal lobe functioning were also conducted. Stepwise multiple regression analyses found composites representing delusions, disorganization, and anxiety/depression, as well as CPT-IP shapes hit rate, served as significant predictors of total insight or the specific insight dimensions. At least for acute patients, symptoms tended to have stronger relationships with and were more regularly predictive of insight than neurocognitive measures, though the attentional task associated with right hemisphere functioning, contributed significantly.

No description available.

Major psychotic disorders are one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, having severe impacts on the people who suffer from the conditions, their families and society. There is evidence that if these conditions are identified and treated early, the prognosis is improved. The purpose of this dissertation study is to produce two manuscripts related to the use of family aided community treatment (FACT) with individuals who are experiencing early psychotic disorders. Using a proof of concept design with multiple repeated-measure t tests, this study focused on first-episode psychotic disorder participants (n = 8), with an average age of 19.6 (sd = 3.28) and males comprising 75% of the sample engaged in a family aided community treatment (FACT) protocol in order to examine if psychiatric symptoms scale scores decreased post-intervention. The hypothesis which stated that a year-long family aided community treatment (FACT) intervention would reduce psychiatric symptoms when assessed by the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS), the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS), and the Global Functioning Scales in a first episode psychotic disorder sample, is supported. The FACT intervention decreased psychiatric symptom scores in this population. Implications of this study include improved training on early recognition for mental health clinicians and students, implementation of a specific treatment model in community settings, and policy around treatment funding allocation. / Graduation date: 2012