In high school, Quentin had a “good preconception” about psychoanalysis. His philosophy classes, where the “Freudian unconscious” was discussed, had “fascinated” him. But during his psychology degree in Brest, from 2016 to 2018, his view on the discipline evolved. “A psychoanalyst teacher told us that autism was linked to unconsciously wanting to sleep with your mother. It was simply no longer possible to say it according to her, because of parental associations,” he relates , still “scandalized”. “Among those who refer to Jacques Lacan, autism is considered the result of incestuous relations with the mother, psychologically speaking,” confirms Delphine*, a psychoanalyst teaching at the former Paris-VII University a few years ago . In this establishment, where the first department dedicated to this practice was born, this discourse would not have changed much today. “Young psychoanalytic psychologists say that tests to diagnose autism are not important. For them, we must only focus on the interactions that children have with their parents, especially the mother,” testifies Victor*, a doctoral student.
If these theories seem incongruous, they have never been scientifically validated, recalls Danièle Langloys, president of Autisme France. “Since 2010, the High Authority for Health (HAS) has established that autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a genetic component, which has nothing to do with the psychology of the parents or the education they provide to their children”, she explains, “furious” to see that the French university continues to teach this “dangerous and retrograde vision”. In thirty-five years of existence, his association has seen the ravages of psychoanalytic therapies in the treatment of this disorder, yet recognized as ineffective since 2012. “Not only is the child left aside, which slows down his treatment , but above all her mother is forced to admit that she missed the first contact with her baby, which generates a feeling of guilt in her,” she illustrates. “In France, a large part of psychology courses only present the psychoanalytic approach to their students, without them always being well informed of its limits, which will considerably guide their future practice,” adds David Masson, psychiatrist at the Nancy psychotherapeutic center. “If it can be useful for learning to know yourself better, it becomes problematic when it is used alone to treat certain disorders,” warns the specialist.
Hysteria, neurosis and psychosis
In a bachelor’s degree course in “clinical child psychology” at Rennes 2 University in 2023, that The Express consulted, the ten bibliographical references are solely psychoanalytic, with Freud and Lacan in the lead. The “psychopathology” course [NDLR : la matière qui s’intéresse à la description des troubles psychiques], he uses the terms “hysteria”, “neurosis” or “psychosis”, a “psychoanalytic vocabulary which no longer exists in any scientific classification”, criticizes Hugo Baup, psychiatrist at the Périgueux hospital center. “These notions certainly have historical interest, but they should no longer be exclusively taught in psychology faculties,” he continues.
But the most serious, according to him, lies in the part “advice for obtaining a good grade on the exam”, which recommends not using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), “a clinical approach which [n’] was not taught [aux étudiants]”. “Psychoanalytic professors told us that we should not believe what was in the DSM,” explains Damien*, a second-year student. However, it is an “atheoretical” reference tool. “, which “simply describes the symptoms to group them into syndromes and advance research”, assures Hugo Baup. “Not teaching it to psychology students is automatically depriving them of critical access to studies scientists,” he insists.
At Lumière Lyon 2 University, Rosalie remembers that in 2020, the DSM was not discussed in clinical psychology either. Neither cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT), of which the effectiveness has however been demonstrated in the treatment of many disorders. “At the time, the professor only spoke about Freud, and said that part of his conclusions were today validated by neuroscience. When a student asked her for his sources, the teacher replied that he didn’t have to know that at his level.”, she remembers. Victoire*, currently a bachelor’s student at the same university, agrees: “We were told for ten minutes about cognitivist trends, then the next half hour consisted of explaining to us why psychoanalysis was superior to them.” The bibliographic references for the course of the year 2023 are once again eloquent: out of 22 texts, 16 are psychoanalytic. Contacted, the Lumière Lyon 2 University did not respond to our requests. Rennes 2 refused the interview request, referring to its training brochure, “to discover the extent of the diversity of psychology in our university”.
Homosexuality, a “deviant sexual behavior”
Beyond the over-representation of psychoanalysis, the witnesses interviewed by The Express denounce the content of certain courses, in particular on sexual and gender minorities. “Freud said that homosexuality was a deviant sexual practice, in the sense that “normal” sexuality was deviated from its object and directed towards the same sex. Today, many psychoanalysts have not evolved and continue to defend this idea, including at university”, deplores Delphine, who admits to having herself written in her thesis that “transgender people were all psychotic […] as Lacan said.” Alexandre Saint-Jevin, doctor of psychoanalysis, nuance: “When I was a student, there was a strong divide among psychoanalysis teachers. The majority classified homosexuality as a perversion and transidentity as a psychosis. But, at the same time, others were very open about LGBT+ issues.”
At Toulouse-Jean Jaurès University, a third-year undergraduate course in “clinical psychology and psychopathology” from 2019 classifies alternating homosexual and heterosexual relationships as “deviant sexual behavior”. Further on, this same document, intended for students who have chosen the specialty of psychoanalysis, defines the “behavior of the psychopath” by “tendencies towards deviant sexual behavior”, including “homosexuality”, “fetishism” or “perversion anal”. “This part of the course is based on the Hare scale, an important reference in psychocriminology. But this has been revised a long time ago, and the notion of homosexuality is no longer a criterion,” corrects Walter Albardier, psychiatrist and head of the Resource Center for those working with perpetrators of sexual violence (Criavs), in Ile-de-France. Mathieu Lacambre, psychiatrist specializing in forensic psychiatry at Montpellier University Hospital, agrees: “Psychopathy has nothing to do with homosexuality, and this scale, like all tools, requires training to use it, otherwise to do damage.” Asked about the teaching of psychoanalysis, the teaching manager of the third year of the degree said “not to be competent on this question”. The teachers of this course, for their part, did not respond to our requests.
The fantasy of aggression
Still in Toulouse Jean-Jaurès, Salomé*, a master’s student in clinical psychology with an autism background, was shocked by another course, given in October 2023. “A psychoanalytic psychologist told us that in cases of domestic violence , women chose to be in a relationship with a violent man, and tacitly adhered to this relational dynamic,” she says. “According to the teacher, there was neither victim nor executioner,” add Marie* and Deborah*, also present. When a student told her that this was not acceptable, the teacher responded in front of everyone. the world she saw clearly that it echoed something in her.” For Delphine, herself a psychoanalyst, this speech is not surprising: “Among the Freudians and Lacanians, everything is reduced to the side of fantasy: if a woman is attacked, it is because she fantasizes the attack. Deep down, she desires this violence.”
At the former Paris-V University, now Paris-Cité, Zoé and Grégoire* heard the same words from a psychoanalyst professor, in November 2022. “As part of a course on hysterical neurosis, she spoke of a game of seduction between the aggressor and the attacked, of the fact that certain women liked to put themselves in borderline situations. We reported this incident to management, and the teacher ended up writing a letter of apology.” Contacted by The Express, the teacher says she doesn’t see herself in these quotes. “I simply suggested making connections between understanding the symptoms [de la névrose hystérique] at the time of Freud and the current progress of society in recognizing sexual abuse, of which many people are victims”, she specifies, while confirming having sent a letter to the students, in which she regrets “a lack clarity.” “It was in no way a question of […] to call into question the words of the victims”, she writes in this document. In Toulouse, the professor in question did not respond to our requests. “I was not present at this course, so it does not seem to me not appropriate to express myself on this subject”, maintained, for her part, the educational manager of the master’s degree.
Students analyzed
Sometimes, the practices of psychoanalyst teachers also raise questions. In a context of moral and sexual harassment targeting the former department of psychoanalytic studies of Paris-VII, revealed by Mediapart And The world At the end of 2018, an investigation by the Ministry of Higher Education revealed psychoanalytic cures – the therapeutic process proposed by psychoanalysis – between teachers and their students, particularly doctoral students. “Teacher-researchers are civil servants […] in a teacher relationship with their student, in a position to evaluate and grade them. A psychoanalytic treatment can give rise to a transfer from the analysand to the analyst, a possible influence on the subject analyzed is therefore to be feared”, warns the report of the investigation, sent in September 2019 to the president of the university. “To be a psychoanalyst, a profession not regulated in France, you have to be analyzed yourself. Teachers therefore took advantage of this rule to have close ties with their students,” comments Elise*, a former professor at Paris-VII, herself a psychoanalyst.
Among the teachers implicated by the ministry is Markos Zafiropoulos, honorary research director at the CNRS and Paris-Cité. Océane*, a doctoral student in this establishment several years ago, remembers her treatments well. “He told us that it was obligatory to carry out our research work, which he supervised. I realized much later that this was harmful, because we were talking about very intimate things,” she testifies, then that each session cost him 70 euros, a “student rate”. “The teachers who engaged in these practices, some of whom are still in office today, sometimes used the diagnoses they established during these cures to oust students,” adds Delphine. For example, someone had to be fired because She was psychotic.” In his response to the ministry, Markos Zafiropoulos “denies having imposed any analysis practice with students and doctoral students”, and declares “that in France, the choice of the psychoanalyst […] is left totally free”. According to him again, “nothing in the legal texts nor in the internal regulations” of the university “is stated in the choice of the analyst”. Contacted by The Express, the latter did not wish to speak on the subject: “Clinical practice is confidential.” The director of the department also did not respond to our questions.
*First names have been changed.
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