This paper presents the psychoanalysis of a fourteen year-old girl, who had experienced a lack of containing from early in her life. In the beginning of the analysis she was superficially verbal, but gradually she regressed and slept most of the time during the sessions. Sometimes she would suddenly wake up very scared and look at me as if I were a monster, but when she saw that it was me she would fall asleep again. This went on for over a year, and it was reported that she had fewer problems outside the session. Gradually she became more verbal, speaking with a soft voice, more in touch with her inner emotions.
Subjectivation, which is characteristic of the psychical work of adolescence, is first of all an appropriation by the subject of his body and his thinking. This psychical work is paradigmatic of the social beliefs that we share : symptoms and even more psychical defenses, incontestably evolve over time, apart from the unconscious which may be conceived of as outside time. Thus, symptomatic expression is constantly caught up in the evolution of social values.
Adolescence, 2011, T. 29 n° 3, pp. 585-593.
Revue semestrielle de psychanalyse, psychopathologie et sciences humaines, indexée AERES au listing PsycINFO publiée avec le concours du Centre National du Livre et de l’Université de Paris Diderot Paris 7