Contenu du sommaire : Transmissions ?

The evolution of fathers... and of therapists
Following comparisons of observations made off their practice in the 90's and currently, regarding the fathers met in therapy, the authors note a change. The “traditional fathers” are disappearing.Despite the fact that more and more fathers, even if separated, are both claimants and resources in family therapy, the authors continue not to meet “new fathers.” Their hypothesis is that these “new fathers” might represent a factor protection for family relations.The testimony of Matteo Selvini on the relationship of his mother Mara Selvini Palazzoli with his own father, and the three testimonies of the authors on the relation between each one of them with their own father, show how much it is necessary to work out on oneself in order to overcome limitations of having a traditional father. The stories of the students interviewed at the end of family therapy training go in the same direction.The basic thesis is that the link with children can be a powerful lever to mobilize parents, not only mothers but fathers as well. In fact, parenting skills do not depend on gender differences. Distinctions between fatherhood and motherhood have historically been determined by patriarchal culture and are minimized in the modern culture of “shared” parenthood.

Generational transmission, transmission against the current
Provided that generational transmission is essential and is the model to which any other transmission refers, it is not obvious in all cases and it only succeeds sometimes through convoluted paths. Adoption is in that matter a major challenge because the filial link between parents and children is the most distant from the biological inheritance and therefore the most paradigmatic : to inherit psychically is not an obligation but a desire, that of transmitting ; we choose to adopt. For this, the desire to transmit can be strong ; to realize it is to fulfill an ideal. Therefore, what are the functions of affect, influence and mutual recognition in its implementation ? It is the therapeutic practice that facilitates the answer to these questions.

Systemic figures from one couple to another
The author created a new floating object that he called “Systemic figures”. He presents his protocol for the first consultation sessionThis therapeutic protocol makes it possible to work on the transmission between the couple of origin, formed by the partners at the beginning of their relationship, and the couple of today, which is in consultation. It also makes it possible to approach the transmissions of representations between the partners about their own relationship within the couple.

Based on observations of children and adults living or having lived “unhappy childhoods”, the authors argue the thesis that personality disorders are the result of a generational transmission and not Genetics.

Alcohol, traumatic memory and subjectivation
The objective of this article is to question the function of addiction in its self-therapeutic aim in case of traumatic experience(s) acting at the transgenerational level. If the function of addiction to one generation is to neutralize thought processes, it can be marked in the next generation, mobilized by the founding necessity of subjectivation, by an attempt at remembrance and thought in order to reconstruct a memory. Based on the clinical case of a patient, illustrated by the extracts of the first three interviews, the author is interested in the way in which the processes of thinking are conducted, in order to detect from a family history of war the traces of psychic elaboration. Analytical and systemic approaches will provide epistemological insights.

Gift, Debt and the Child: A Pilot Study On Reciprocity In The Family
Is the anthropological view of a necessary balance between gift and reciprocation relevant to the parent-child relationship ? Some clinical observations seem to suggest that perceived imbalance might result in symbolic and somatic responses in children. An exploratory pilot survey was carried out with a composite sample of parents and children with food related problems, whether in the care of health professionals or not. Parents massively feel they give their children more than they themselves have received. They expect no reciprocation from their children except in an undetermined future or in the form of good schoolwork. Children on the other hand feel they have no opportunity to “return” anything to their parents. Some complain about lack of parental acknowledgment or gratitude (“reconnaissance”). When it comes to food, mothers in particular feel their investment in that area is more problematic. The data collected raise new questions regarding parental investment or over-investment and the notion of inter- or trans-generational debt.

The child an intergenerational link
The birth of grandchildren highlights the nature of the links between generations. Potential resilience tutors when an ordeal occurs in the lives of their children becoming parents, grandparents can also perpetuate suffering when they instrumentalize their grandchildren to be relieved of their responsibility for the onset of this suffering in their own child.Clinical examples make it possible to present different scenarios describing the place and the role that grandparents can take when they put their hand on the shoulder of their children in difficulty or on the contrary dispossess them, to rehabilitate themselves, of their parental function.

Grandparent's place between mentally sick child and grandchildren
Grandparents are put to the test when their child with psychotic disorders becomes parent in turn. Since 2007, we accompany them in a group of peers, to reflect with them on what they live. After having recalled what great parenting is, we try to identify the specificities of the experience of these grandparents, before thinking about the help that this kind of group can give them.

To healing our wounds is to prevent our children and subsequent generations from having to wear them
The author approaches the etymology of the word “transmissions” and then resumes its use in constructivist, contextual, experiential approaches, and in developmental psychology and psychogenealogy. He finally describes and illustrates the theory of family scripts.

Family myth, family fates and differentiation
Family myths that are passed from generation to generation are important for the preservation of homeostasis and family identity. A particular category of myths, family fates, may alienate the family in pathological processes that are repeated from generation to generation. After the described assets, the author proposes therapeutic ways to help the suffering family members to differentiate themselves from alienating family destinies.

Countertransference reactions and signs of trauma transmission in group of therapists
The therapeutic relationship as the mother-baby relationship is the scene of exchange and transmission. In the psychic trauma clinic, these exchanges will be infiltrated by dreadful and unrepresentable elements. Through the prism of the countertransference of groups of therapists, the authors highlight the presence of maternal trauma transmission index and try to understand the baby's experience in this situation.

The magic mountain. Teach the therapist's talent differently
In this article, the authors would like to share the experience of three sessions of a residential seminar in Switzerland of 2.5 days each. This is a continuing education course in systemic psychotherapy.Seminars range from moments of “self-exposure” by the therapist, to exploring the interactive conduct of psychotherapeutic sessions in vivo.The article describes how a “learning community” is created and how it promotes the emergence of the psychotherapist's unique aspects through “circular modeling”. This is to increase for each participant the creativity of his personal style, in his professional life first, but naturally in his personal life as well. The taught subject can be defined as “the art of conducting the therapeutic process using the human and subjective part of the therapist”.

Becoming a therapist: what transmission
This article presents a “therapist's style” work tool, developed with several groups at the end of the systemic approach training.The article invites us to reflect on the processes of transmission in the training to become a therapist, and raises the question : who transmits what, to whom ?