The Aimée case is one of the most famous in the history of psychiatry and psychoanalysis, and this has occurred mainly for two reasons. The first is the fact that this case is the basis of Jacques Lacan’s thesis. The second, because it represented a big change in what was once known about “paranoid psychosis”.
Jacques Lacan is perhaps the most eminent representative of psychoanalysis, after Sigmund Freud; its postulates were a definitive advance for classical psychoanalysis; it was the Aimée case that began to catapult him as a new lucid thinker in this field.
- The Aimée case has also stirred controversy over the special conditions under which the treatment was carried out and presented to the scientific community.
- As well as the consequences it has had over time on the descendants of this famous patient.
- We’re definitely talking about a fascinating.
- Chapter in the history of mental health sciences.
‘what was rejected in symbolism reappears in reality. ‘ – Jacques Lacan-
Marguerite Pantaine made history under the name Aimée, it was the name of one of the characters in a novel he wrote, this is also the name Lacan gave her in her thesis, she was a woman born into a Catholic peasant family in France. who apparently began presenting ideas of persecution at the age of 28.
It happened during her first pregnancy. He thought they wanted to hurt her, so he developed violent behavior. Her first daughter was stillborn and she became convinced that one of her friends was to blame. This improved rapidly, but during her second pregnancy, the ideas of persecution returned. he did not allow anyone else to take care of his son, Didier, during his first five months of life.
Her ideas of persecution grew and she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for the first time. Once discharged, she moved to Paris alone. He came up with the idea that an actress named Huguette Duflos was the one who wanted to hurt her son. He has written letters to the Prince of Wales to comment on his suspicions. Finally, in April 1931, Marguerite attacked the actress with a knife, which took her to jail.
Due to her mental state, Marguerite was sent to the Santa Ana Psychiatric Hospital, where she was cared for by Jacques Lacan for a year and a half. Since she was arrested, her symptoms have disappeared. This led Lacan to conclude something about the “paranoia of self-casing. “In other words, the fact that she was punished was what brought her sanity. He suffered an unconscious guilt and, after receiving the prison sentence, the illusion was no longer necessary.
Without going into the psychoanalytic details of the Aimée case, the truth is that it had a very particular development and result, Jacques Lacan was fascinated by her and her situation. In fact, does the name Aimée mean? Loved? And it’s funny that Lacan called it that. Not that he had a romantic relationship with her, but he found in his condition many keys to developing his theory about psychosis.
Marguerite wrote novels that no one published, in his treatment he handed them over to Lacan, who never returned them, paradoxically became famous thanks to Lacan’s texts, before starting the treatment, Marguerite said that there were people interested in stealing his words
He accused writer Pierre Binot of stealing his ideas for writing his texts. Finally, something like this is what happened during his experience with Lacan.
According to Jacques Lacan, Marguerite was healed simply for being severely punished for her assassination attempt. We know that some of her delusions reappeared later, but also that they did not complicate her life or lead her to a new hospitalization, so the basic Lacanian thesis was considered correct.
The surprising thing about this whole story is that Marguerite’s son, Didier, decided to become a psychoanalyst; in his autobiography, he points out that a deep loneliness and his mother’s problems have guided him down this path. Unknowingly, Didier went to Lacan’s office as a patient. I didn’t know the Aimée case meant her mother.
At one point he suspected that this was the case, investigated in detail and then complained to Lacan that he had not told him, Lacan said he had not noticed until the start of the process, so he said nothing.
Didier tried to retrieve his mother’s novels, but it was impossible. He became a writer himself. A good result, the son of a delusional mother became a psychoanalyst, never knew what his mother had written, but ended up making the pen his profession.