Paper short abstract:

On the basis of two research-projects which included extended fieldwork in two of the most important centres for transcultural therapies in France, we discuss their subversive potential and their limits in the process of building knowledge and re-inventing therapeutic practices.

Paper long abstract:

Since their very beginnings, psychotherapeutic practice and theory have been re-invented and transformed while responding to quite contradictory demands and definitions of their mission.

Since their very beginnings, psychotherapeutic practice and theory have been re-invented and transformed while responding to quite contradictory demands and definitions of their mission.

On one hand, therapeutic practices have always been linked to the healthcare system and therapies had to respond to dominant definitions of mental health and wellbeing in this field. In this perspective, therapy is about curing symptoms and its objectives include the capacity of the patient to participate actively in society while being adapted to its dominant role-models. A second line in the development of therapeutic practices is linked with a tradition where the idea of self creativity, liberation and contestation of existing norms plays a central role. This second line therapeutic theory and practice is mostly linked to interpretative and intersubjective paradigms. One of the central issues in the therapeutic processes is an interrogation about subjectivity and interrelatedness which can lead to a deeper understanding of society, norms power-relations and their impact on the life of the individual, beyond the mere adaptation of the individual to the norms and roles of society. In our presentation, we would like to reflect on this dichotomy, with distinct epistemic positions, values and definitions, while discussing recent developments in the field of transcultural healthcare and therapies for migrants in France.