Psychopathology of Work: Clinical Observations

by Christophe Dejours

Overview

This book examines the processes at issue in the onset of psychiatric disorders linked to stress in the workplace. Six clinical observations are presented: an acute psychosomatic decompensation (status asthmaticus); a delirious episode; a dementia-like confusional state; a sexuality disorder; two successive decompensations (one in a victim of workplace harassment and one in her aggressor); and a suicide. Each is explored in detail, from aetiology to treatment, bringing into sharp relief the differences between conventional analysis and the interpretation of material in light of the reference to work. These studies have been written by psychoanalysts and may be used as a training resource for practitioners and students alike. For any professional or researcher involved in the world of work, these observations will offer a deeper understanding of this particular work-related mental pathology which characterises the development of our contemporary society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782201809
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/09/2015
Series:	The International Psychoanalytical Association Psychoanalytic Ideas and Applications Series
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Christophe Dejours is a former hospital practitioner in psychiatry, a psychoanalyst, and Professor of the Chair of Psychoanalysis, Health and Work at France’s Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts). He is also a member of the Association Psychanalytique de France and the Institut de Psychosomatique de Paris (the Paris Psychosomatic Institute).

Table of Contents

Series Editor’s Foreword — Introduction — Madness and work: from aetiological analysis to theoretical contradictions (a case of status asthmaticus) — What the psychopathology of work can bring to the study of an acute delirious episode — “Doctor, can you get Alzheimer’s at my age?” A mysterious deterioration of the cognitive functions in a forty-year-old patient — “Centrality of work” and sexuality theory — Psychological harassment at work: the subjugation of the body — New forms of servitude and suicide

Editorial Reviews

"Available in English at last, this collection is an excellent contribution to a field of increasing relevance, the relation of work to mental illness. While the chapters are focused on issues that arise in actual clinical practice, especially including the interrelation of work to gender and sexual identity, Dejours provides a strong theoretical argument for the crucial importance of the relation to work in mental health and its pivotal role in both the productive and the private spheres. A must-read book."

Teresa de Lauretis

"Sensitively focusing on clinical issues, this book offers a remarkable introduction to Dejours’ essential contributions to the diagnostics and treatment of work-related pathologies and to the understanding of psychosomatics. Challenging the conventional division between mental illness and normality, it underlines the role of work in the psychodynamics of health as well as in the genesis of illnesses. Dejours’ theory on the centrality of work has become a crucial reference on the necessity to develop clinical skills in listening to the subjective dimension of work in order to avoid mistakes in aetiological diagnosis and treatment approaches."

Hélène Tessier