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l'Information Psychiatrique. Volume 83, Number 1, 13-21, Janvier 2007, Injonction de soins

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Author(s) : André Ciavaldini

Summary : Psychoanalytical work with sexual offendersFaced with sexual violence, the first question that has to be tackled is: are we more in the realm of violence or of sex? Or to rephrase the question: how can a psychoanalyst consider a dimension which does not stem from the sexual? And as a therapeutic corollary: how can one bring back within the realm of the sexual that which has escaped? A case study shows how it is possible to remain a psychoanalyst, with one’s primary identity references – drive, child sexuality, subconscious – when faced with subjects whose whole being is engaged in a permanent struggle against these dimensions, which is the case of sexual delinquents or offenders. The author goes on to detail the necessary technical adjustments to the therapeutic framework – which is based on a passivity/activity dynamic – in order to enable a “true” encounter with the third person embodied by the psychoanalyst so as to allow access to meaning, the latter being unable to take body without work involving the affects.

Keywords : affect, sexual offender, technical adjustment, therapeutic framework, hold, psychoanalysis