Daniel Lagache facts for kids

Daniel Lagache (born December 3, 1903 – died December 3, 1972) was a French doctor, a type of psychologist called a psychoanalyst, and a professor at the famous Sorbonne in Paris. He was a very important person in French psychoanalysis during the 1900s.

Daniel Lagache's Career

Daniel Lagache started his advanced studies at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in 1924. He became interested in psychopathology, which is the study of mental illnesses. He also studied medicine and psychiatry, which deals with mental health. By 1937, he was a chief doctor in a clinic. He became a teacher of psychology at the University of Strasbourg in 1937. Later, in 1947, he became the head of the psychology department at the Sorbonne. In 1955, he became the head of the psychopathology department there.

Lagache also studied psychoanalysis, a way of understanding the mind developed by Sigmund Freud. He had a "training analysis" with a psychoanalyst named Rudolph Loewenstein. In 1937, he wrote an important article about "Mourning, melancholia and mania." This helped him become a full member of the Paris psychoanalytical society, known as the SPP.

Changes in Psychoanalysis

After World War II, Daniel Lagache had different ideas about how psychoanalysts should be trained. He believed that psychology and psychoanalysis should work together. This was different from the more strict medical approach favored by others, like Sacha Nacht.

In 1953, Lagache and other important figures, including Francoise Dolto and Jacques Lacan, left the main French psychoanalysis group. They started a new group called the Societe Francaise de Psychanalyse (French Society for Psychoanalysis, or SFP).

For a while, Lacan and Lagache worked closely in the new SFP. Lagache often helped supervise others, while Lacan trained new analysts. However, the SFP faced a big problem: it needed to be recognized by the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). Lacan's ideas and methods were seen as a barrier to this recognition.

The situation was difficult. The IPA wanted to accept Lagache but not Lacan. This conflict finally led to the SFP breaking up in 1964. Its members and resources were split into two new groups. Lagache became the first president of the new Association Psychanalytique de France (APF). This organization was quickly recognized by the IPA in 1965.

Daniel Lagache's Writings and Ideas

Daniel Lagache taught about many areas of psychology. He always tried to connect them, showing how different parts of psychology work together. His first big lecture, "The Unity of Psychology: experimental psychology and clinical psychology" (1949), showed this idea. His work mainly focused on psychopathology, which is the study of mental disorders.

His small book, The Psychoanalysis (1955), was praised for being accurate and open to many different uses. He wrote many other articles and shared his experiences from working with patients. He also started a series of books called "Library of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Psychology."

Lagache was also the leader of the project to create the Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (1967). This important dictionary was written with Jean Laplanche and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis. He also tried to bring Freud's ideas into social psychology and studied crime in a field called Criminology.

Some of his most important ideas were about:

• Mourning: Lagache was one of the first to study mourning again before the war. He thought that rituals for mourning help people create a healthy distance between themselves and the dead. He believed that some strong feelings are needed to get through mourning. But if mourning is too strong, it can stop people from moving on.
• Transference: In his 1951-52 report on transference, Lagache explained that it happens very often. Transference is when a person unconsciously redirects feelings and desires from one person to another. He believed it was important to deal with these feelings to help the mind heal.
• Jealousy: Lagache described jealousy as the wish to "own someone completely and only for yourself." He said that a jealous person sees the other person as an object, not as an independent person with their own thoughts and feelings.

Criticism of Lagache's Work

Some critics, like Élisabeth Roudinesco, thought that Lagache's idea of mixing Freudian psychoanalysis with clinical psychology was not the best path. His rival, Lacan, also believed that trying to combine psychology with psychoanalysis would not work. Roudinesco suggested that even though Lagache became famous for trying to unite these fields, he ultimately did not succeed in his goal of full unification.

See also

In Spanish: Daniel Lagache para niños