L'Information Psychiatrique
MENUPhilippe Paumelle: an update Volume 79, issue 2, Février 2003
- Key words: psychiatric sector, disalienation, psychosis, institutions, therapeutic team, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, Racamier, Paumelle.
- Page(s) : 151-9
- Published in: 2003
In 1958, Philippe Paumelle set up the "Association for mental health and the fight against alcoholism, 13th arrondissement Paris", later to become "the 13th"; in doing so, he created the first "sector". We highlight certain recurrent principles of his productive lifework, namely: the absolute priority of therapy over assistance; care for all, not forgetting the mentally ill; the crucial role of therapeutic teams and collegiate structures and the importance of caregivers in decision-making within institutions; the need for a psychoanalysis equal to the problems of psychiatry. The essence of psychiatry for Philippe Paumelle is to be found in dialogue with the patient; this rules out rejection, thinly disguised by adaptative or therapeutic voluntarism, and normative attitudes in general. His unique, abundant lifework remains of burning relevance.