Publications

Buy

Fear figures in the institution

Issue 17 : June, 2019
ISBN : 9782749263090

Generally, one enters an institution to find shelter, by fear of a reality sometimes perceived as too oppressive, or by fear of an overwhelming internal life. Generally, the first intention of care institutions that welcome psychologically ill patients is to soothe the fear. However, it is quite difficult for caregivers to perceive the unconscious and archaic anguishes that fear contains; anguishes that words cannot always describe and that are often hidden by all sorts of behavioural expressions. By trying to acknowledge countertransference, those who work around psychological care in institutions can try to contain and sometimes transform infantile fears that are hidden by adult psychological disorders. These fears take the shape of stories that are told to children: from the creepy monster that is encountered in autism and dementia to the big bad wolf of unbridled drives but also the ghosts present in abandonment and death or even violent and vicious daemons. These fears lead to various symptomatic expressions on different levels that reveal a potential psychological life as long as they are told and questioned rather than denied or suppressed.