Daniel Lagache
Encyclopedia
French physician, psychoanalyst, and professor at the Sorbonne, Daniel Lagache was born on December 3, 1903, in Paris, where he died on December 3, 1972.'
He was one of the leading figures in twentieth century French psychoanalysis.
(ENS) in 1924. Becoming interested in psychopathology
under the influence of Georges Dumas
, he began to study medicine
- alongside such figures as Raymond Aron
, Paul Nizan
, and Jean-Paul Sartre
- as well as psychiatry
. By 1937 he had become chief physician in the clinic directed by Henri Claude
. Appointed lecturer in psychology
at the University of Strasbourg
in 1937, he succeeded to the chair of psychology at the Sorbonne
in 1947, before obtaining the chair of psychopathology in 1955.
After a training analysis with Rudolph Loewenstein in the thirties, Lagache focused his research interests on Freudian psychoanalysis: his 'perfect understanding of German allowed him to study Freud's works in the original as well as to read the German phenomenologists and psychopathologists. In 1937 his communication, "Deuil, mélancolie, manie" (Mourning, melancholia and mania) brought him full membership in the SPP' - the Paris psychoanalytical society
.
...followed Daniel Lagache as he created the Societe Francaise de Psychanalyse
(French Society for Psychoanalysis, or SFP)', - as too did Jacques Lacan
(despite earlier disputes between the two men).
Lacan and Lagache thereafter worked together side by side in the new Society during the fifties, Lagache predominantly as supervisor, Lacan as training analyst. Lacan's fulsome tribute in Ecrits belongs to this era: 'It is to the work of my colleague Daniel Lagache that we must turn for a true account of the work which...has been devoted to the transference...introducing into the function of the phenomenon structural distinctions that are essential for its critique. One has only to recall the very relevant alternative that he presents, as to its ultimate nature, between the need for repetition and the repetition of need'. In a more critical vein, Lacan also took up Lagache's work on the ego ideal
- 'which he expressed in the form of a theory at the 1958 Royaumont colloquium on personality', - as a springboard for his own 'article Remarque sur le rapport de Daniel Lagache, concerning the ideal ego and the ego ideal'.
However the major problem that had faced the new Society from the start was that of obtaining recognition from the International Psychoanalytical Association
; and here Lacan increasingly appeared as the main obstacle to success. Both his theoretical stance, and his short sessions, stood ever more obviously in the way. While both men had been analysed by Loewenstein, Lacan had reacted violently against his ego psychology
, whereas 'if you read Lagache there is a Hartmannian
flavour in it'; so that for the IPA the problem became 'how to accept Lagache, while leaving Lacan out'.
The 'rift between Lacan and Lagache also grew decisive', and the pair's theoretical divergences became overt with Lacan's 1961 publication of 'a long theoretical essay criticising Daniel Lagache...[which] attacks the latter's "personalism" and fusion of psychology and psychoanalysis'.
The eventual result was the dissolution of the SFP in 1964, and the division of its assets and membership between two new organizations. Lagache became the first president of the new Association Psychanalytique de France (APF), an institution that was swiftly 'recognized in 1965 by the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA).
His 1951-2 Report on Transference
emphasized how 'everything is "transference", everywhere and always - as Lagache reminds us'. In it, 'supported by structuralist
and gestaltist
concepts, Lagache works with the supposition that the mind operates in search of certain integrations...In transferential repetition there is always a desire to complete something that had remained incomplete'. Thus 'Lagache is decidedly in favour of Freud's earlier thesis (the earlier and final one)...of the repetition of the need', rather than the "need for repetition" stressed inbetween by the death drive.
On jealousy
Lagache singled out the desire 'to possess the object totally and exclusively; the "loved object is seen as a thing, not as an independent consciousness: the possessive lover refuses to acknowledge the alterity of the Other"'.
In his teaching, Lagache addresses various areas of psychology, seeking constantly to draw them into a conscious synthesis, in the spirit of his remarkable inaugural lecture on "The Unity of Psychology: experimental psychology
and clinical psychology
"(1949). But his work is essentially psychopathological, though also inspired by phenomenology
. His little book The Psychoanalysis (1955) is "a model in terms of accuracy and an example of openness to diversity of fields of application" (Didier Anzieu
).
Numerous other articles and communications testify to his clinical experience and his extensive research in psychoanalysis. Founder and director of a series called "Library of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Psychology", Daniel Lagache was also the project leader of the Dictionary of Psychoanalysis(1967), written under his direction by Jean Laplanche
and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis. He sought to introduce Freudian concepts into social psychology (for which he established a laboratory at the Sorbonne); and in Criminology
, he devoted several studies to criminogenesis.
' through his emphasis on clinical psychology was a dead end; that, as Lacan put it, 'that extraordinary lateral transference, by which the categories of a psychology that re-invigorates its menial tasks with social exploitation acquire a new strength in psychoanalysis', was foredoomed - 'I regard the fate of psychology as signed and sealed'; and that 'Lagache gradually lost his unitary battle the more famous he became'.
Alain de Mijolla, Freud and France, 1885-1945 (2010)
He was one of the leading figures in twentieth century French psychoanalysis.
Career
Daniel Lagache began higher education at the École Normale SupérieureÉcole Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
(ENS) in 1924. Becoming interested in psychopathology
Psychopathology
Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. The term is most commonly used within psychiatry where pathology refers to disease processes...
under the influence of Georges Dumas
Georges Dumas
Georges Dumas was a French doctor and psychologist.His main work is The Treatise of Psychology . He wrote many articles and led the publication in two volumes of the treaty in which the main French psychologists of the time participate...
, he began to study medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
- alongside such figures as Raymond Aron
Raymond Aron
Raymond-Claude-Ferdinand Aron was a French philosopher, sociologist, journalist and political scientist.He is best known for his 1955 book The Opium of the Intellectuals, the title of which inverts Karl Marx's claim that religion was the opium of the people -- in contrast, Aron argued that in...
, Paul Nizan
Paul Nizan
Paul Nizan was a French philosopher and writer.-Biography:He was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire and studied in Paris where he befriended fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre at the Lycée Henri IV...
, and Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
- as well as psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
. By 1937 he had become chief physician in the clinic directed by Henri Claude
Henri Claude
Henri Charles Jules Claude was a French psychiatrist and neurologist who was a native of Paris. He studied medicine under Charles-Joseph Bouchard , and was an assistant to Fulgence Raymond at the Salpêtrière Hospital...
. Appointed lecturer in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
at the University of Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
in 1937, he succeeded to the chair of psychology at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in 1947, before obtaining the chair of psychopathology in 1955.
After a training analysis with Rudolph Loewenstein in the thirties, Lagache focused his research interests on Freudian psychoanalysis: his 'perfect understanding of German allowed him to study Freud's works in the original as well as to read the German phenomenologists and psychopathologists. In 1937 his communication, "Deuil, mélancolie, manie" (Mourning, melancholia and mania) brought him full membership in the SPP' - the Paris psychoanalytical society
Paris psychoanalytical society
The Paris Psychoanalytical Society is the oldest psychoanalytical organisation in France. Founded with Freud’s endorsement in 1926, the S.P.P...
.
Psychoanalytic politics
After the war, Lagache's views on training came into increasing conflict with those of the society's establishment: he stood for an 'academic liberalism based on the merging of psychology and psychoanalysis', as opposed to 'the authoritarianism of the medical profession' represented by Sacha Nacht. In 1953, Lagache led a break-away from the SPP. 'Lagache was of the opinion that, rather than continue his struggle with Nacht, who now had control over the training and approval processes, he would do better to create a new association, within which he could move freely. He had been preparing his move for some time'. Francoise 'DoltoFrançoise Dolto
Françoise Dolto , was a French doctor and psychoanalyst, famous for her research on babies and childhood. Dolto revolutionized the field of psycho-therapeutic work with babies and with the mother baby dyad....
...followed Daniel Lagache as he created the Societe Francaise de Psychanalyse
Société Française de Psychanalyse
The Société Française de Psychanalyse was a French psychoanalytic professional body formed in 1953, of which Jacques Lacan was a founding member....
(French Society for Psychoanalysis, or SFP)', - as too did Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
(despite earlier disputes between the two men).
Lacan and Lagache thereafter worked together side by side in the new Society during the fifties, Lagache predominantly as supervisor, Lacan as training analyst. Lacan's fulsome tribute in Ecrits belongs to this era: 'It is to the work of my colleague Daniel Lagache that we must turn for a true account of the work which...has been devoted to the transference...introducing into the function of the phenomenon structural distinctions that are essential for its critique. One has only to recall the very relevant alternative that he presents, as to its ultimate nature, between the need for repetition and the repetition of need'. In a more critical vein, Lacan also took up Lagache's work on the ego ideal
Ego ideal
The ego ideal is the inner image of oneself as one wants to become. Alternatively, 'The Freudian notion of a perfect or ideal self housed in the superego', consisting of 'the individual's conscious and unconscious images of what he would like to be, patterned after certain people whom...he regards...
- 'which he expressed in the form of a theory at the 1958 Royaumont colloquium on personality', - as a springboard for his own 'article Remarque sur le rapport de Daniel Lagache, concerning the ideal ego and the ego ideal'.
However the major problem that had faced the new Society from the start was that of obtaining recognition from the International Psychoanalytical Association
International Psychoanalytical Association
The International Psychoanalytical Association is an association including 12,000 psychoanalysts as members and works with 70 constituent organizations. It was founded in 1910 by Sigmund Freud, on an idea proposed by Sándor Ferenczi...
; and here Lacan increasingly appeared as the main obstacle to success. Both his theoretical stance, and his short sessions, stood ever more obviously in the way. While both men had been analysed by Loewenstein, Lacan had reacted violently against his ego psychology
Ego psychology
Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural id-ego-superego model of the mind.An individual interacts with the external world as well as responds to internal forces. Many psychoanalysts use a theoretical construct called the ego to explain how that is done...
, whereas 'if you read Lagache there is a Hartmannian
Heinz Hartmann
Heinz Hartmann , was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He is considered one of the founders and principal representantives of ego psychology.-Life:...
flavour in it'; so that for the IPA the problem became 'how to accept Lagache, while leaving Lacan out'.
The 'rift between Lacan and Lagache also grew decisive', and the pair's theoretical divergences became overt with Lacan's 1961 publication of 'a long theoretical essay criticising Daniel Lagache...[which] attacks the latter's "personalism" and fusion of psychology and psychoanalysis'.
The eventual result was the dissolution of the SFP in 1964, and the division of its assets and membership between two new organizations. Lagache became the first president of the new Association Psychanalytique de France (APF), an institution that was swiftly 'recognized in 1965 by the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA).
Writings
In his prewar work on mourning, 'Lagache considers mourning as a social ritual', its aim '"the accomplishment of a split between the living and the dead' - something requiring aggression to be carried through. 'Lagache identifies three sources of aggression in mourning', culminating in 'the aggression required "to destroy the loved object", which is the work of mourning'. In his 'later paper, "Pathological Mourning" (1956), Lagache revisits the question of excessive (manic or masochistic) mourning', stressing how here especially '"consciousness is thus torn between an obligation to the dead that stipulates dying and the wish to live"'. It was then 'Lagache...[who] did the most re-open the question of mourning in its entirety'.His 1951-2 Report on Transference
Transference
Transference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...
emphasized how 'everything is "transference", everywhere and always - as Lagache reminds us'. In it, 'supported by structuralist
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
and gestaltist
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies...
concepts, Lagache works with the supposition that the mind operates in search of certain integrations...In transferential repetition there is always a desire to complete something that had remained incomplete'. Thus 'Lagache is decidedly in favour of Freud's earlier thesis (the earlier and final one)...of the repetition of the need', rather than the "need for repetition" stressed inbetween by the death drive.
On jealousy
Jealousy
Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...
Lagache singled out the desire 'to possess the object totally and exclusively; the "loved object is seen as a thing, not as an independent consciousness: the possessive lover refuses to acknowledge the alterity of the Other"'.
In his teaching, Lagache addresses various areas of psychology, seeking constantly to draw them into a conscious synthesis, in the spirit of his remarkable inaugural lecture on "The Unity of Psychology: experimental psychology
Experimental psychology
Experimental psychology is a methodological approach, rather than a subject, and encompasses varied fields within psychology. Experimental psychologists have traditionally conducted research, published articles, and taught classes on neuroscience, developmental psychology, sensation, perception,...
and clinical psychology
Clinical psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of science, theory and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development...
"(1949). But his work is essentially psychopathological, though also inspired by phenomenology
Phenomenology (psychology)
Phenomenology is an approach to psychological subject matter that has its roots in the philosophical work of Edmund Husserl. Early phenomenologists such as Husserl, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty conducted their own psychological investigations in the early 20th century...
. His little book The Psychoanalysis (1955) is "a model in terms of accuracy and an example of openness to diversity of fields of application" (Didier Anzieu
Didier Anzieu
-Life:Anzieu studied philosophy and was a pupil of Daniel Lagache, before undertaking his first psychoanalysis with Jacques Lacan. Then, after discovering that Lacan had also treated his mother , he began a second analysis with Georges Favez...
).
Numerous other articles and communications testify to his clinical experience and his extensive research in psychoanalysis. Founder and director of a series called "Library of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Psychology", Daniel Lagache was also the project leader of the Dictionary of Psychoanalysis(1967), written under his direction by Jean Laplanche
Jean Laplanche
Jean Laplanche is a French author, theorist and psychoanalyst. Laplanche is best known for his work on psychosexual development and Sigmund Freud's seduction theory, and has written more than a dozen books on psychoanalytic theory...
and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis. He sought to introduce Freudian concepts into social psychology (for which he established a laboratory at the Sorbonne); and in Criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
, he devoted several studies to criminogenesis.
Criticism
Critics would argue that Lagache's attempt at the 'integration of Freudianism into JanetismPierre Janet
Pierre Marie Félix Janet was a pioneering French psychologist, philosopher and psychotherapist in the field of dissociation and traumatic memory....
' through his emphasis on clinical psychology was a dead end; that, as Lacan put it, 'that extraordinary lateral transference, by which the categories of a psychology that re-invigorates its menial tasks with social exploitation acquire a new strength in psychoanalysis', was foredoomed - 'I regard the fate of psychology as signed and sealed'; and that 'Lagache gradually lost his unitary battle the more famous he became'.
Further reading
Daniel Lagache, The Works of Daniel Lagache: Selected Papers, 1938-1964 (1993)Alain de Mijolla, Freud and France, 1885-1945 (2010)