Une institution de psychothérapie populaire : La Chavannerie. Tome III / Antoine Appeau ; préface du Professeur Jacques Hochmann.

Institutional psychotherapy, of which the experience of the Clinique de la Chavannerie is one of the most vivid examples, has represented a considerable moment in the history of psychiatry over the last fifty years. Contrary to what is often claimed, it has contributed more to the evolution of the condition of the mentally ill, their cure and the knowledge of psychotic mechanisms, than the pharmacological discoveries and the quite minor progress made in understanding the disorders that could affect patients' brains. It must indeed be recognised..., that we do not know much more today than a century ago about the biological disfunctions of manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, autism or paranoia, and that psychotropic drugs - whatever their interest - have, most of the time, only a symptomatic effect on anxiety, agitation, depression, inhibition or hallucination. We must therefore thank Antoine Appeau for having, against all odds, been able to resist the normalising reins and for having firmly held the helm of an original psychotherapeutic institution, by instilling never-denial attention to the internal world of patients, with a constant concern to cure psychic suffering, without denying or erasing it. This passionate "psychophilia" has had a certain effectiveness on the many patients who were able to benefit from it. It has also contributed to the formation of a school that is now national and international authority.--Translated from back cover.