Hysterical dissociation in the texts of Janet and Freud prior to 1911.

Before the introduction by Bleuler of the concept of Spaltung (translated i nto French as dissociation) in schizophrenia, Pierre Janet and Freud descri bed this mechanism in hysterical states. In the present study, the differen t definitions of the word dissociation have been examined. In the studies o f Janet, four functions in the mechanism of dissociation can be distinguish ed: disaggregation, in which the phenomena uncontrolled by the state of con sciousness are separated from the psyche; reversible recomposition in which the dissociated representations recombine and may form a new personality; the suppression or hiding from oneself of the pathogenic traumatic memory; the beneficial effect of clinical intervention which aims to modifying the memory of the traumatic event, by representing it in a different light. In the texts written between 1892 and 1895, Freud considered the process of di ssociation in hysterical states; it may indicate the mechanism by which cer tain representations are excluded from consciousness due to an intense affe ctive involvement. In preference to the theory of degeneration, Freud favou red Breuer's notion, which was inspired by Moebius, of the hypnoid state. H e distinguished two phases of this mechanism: dissociation (Dissoziation in German) and splitting (Spaltung) of consciousness; the latter state mainta ins those representations outside consciousness, which may provoke an effec t that is comparable to a traumatism. In 1893, Freud introduced the notion of repression, which partly arises from the mechanisms of dissociation and splitting, but which does not fully replace them. It is important to differ entiate between the mechanism of dissociation and that of repression, the f ormer should be studied as a separate entity in its various pathological ma nifestations, with hysteria considered as the basis. (C) 1999 Editions scie ntifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.