La formation aux médiations thérapeutiques par le désart : une éthique psychanalytique

Abstract

Aims

This article discusses the place and function of psychoanalytic ethics in therapeutic mediation through art and in the training of therapists in the use of these tools.

Method

Starting from a difference between two French translations by P. Lacoue-Labarthe of Adorno's term Entkunstung (désartification and désart), it will be shown that Entkunstung as “disart” introduces a particular dimension that all improvisation summons and aims at: a practice without an object, art without a work. Yet, improvisation specifically concerns therapeutic mediation practices when they are oriented by psychoanalysis. So how can we think about Entkunstung in clinical practices that use art as a therapeutic mediation, and how can we train for it? To answer these questions, we explore psychic and transferential processes in university training workshops.

Results

In the training workshops for therapeutic mediation (here through music), we observe the deployment of several dimensions of Entkunstung: a dimension of Entkunstung in the Imaginary (the ruin of group idealization), in the Real (the impossible relationship with the instrument), and, finally, a symbolic dimension of Entkunstung (the insistence on the desire of the clinician-artist-trainer). These three dimensions appear as the Borromean coordinates of an orientation through Entkunstung.

Discussion

These training systems transmit much more than an approach to aesthetics or the application of leadership techniques referring to existing protocols. They represent a privileged stage for identifying and establishing the specificity of psychoanalytic ethics in mediation through art.

Conclusion

The notion of Entkunstung highlights the articulation of two positions that might at first appear contradictory but which can be reconciled: that of the clinician and that of the artist.