Language in the making: A clinical example of autistic structuring

Objectives

This interview aims to identify the specific advances of Henri-Rousselle Hospital at the time of its direction by Doctor Georges Daumézon, during the 1970s.

Method

The testimony of Jean-Michel Gentizon, Assistant at Henri-Rousselle Hospital between 1972 and 1976, which situates the historical context through the influential works of this period, allows us to progressively identify the stakes and the consequences of Georges Daumézon's action on French psychiatry.

Results

The policy of opening up to the different fields of psychiatry advocated by Georges Daumézon at Henri-Rousselle Hospital allows us to identify its essential function for French psychiatry in the 1970s. This institution proved to be a particularly innovative hub, soliciting the interventions of the great figures of psychiatry of this period. Its influence concerns the policy of the sector, the institutional psychotherapy movement, the field of clinical research, and the general political consequences of this action.

Discussion

The interview in its conclusion questions the current evolution of psychiatry, the less favorable opening modalities in the following decades, a lesser dialogue between the different currents, and the risks of a more recent narrowing of the current fields of research to the neurosciences alone.

Conclusion

The experience of Henri-Rousselle Hospital, as developed by Dr. Georges Daumézon, proves to be a particularly favorable illustration of a policy of opening up psychiatry to the different currents of its time as well as to the different registers of the human sciences.