The institution, mental disability and the psychoanalyst: Prospects presented by a revival of intersubjective receptivity in groups.

This presentation aims at giving an account of a novel group project, conducted with adults with mental and/or psychic disabilities. The evolution of post-war psychiatry in France is marked by several important changes. The development of psychotherapy in institutions asserts the role of psychoanalysis in the institutional sphere. We then will describe the environmental contexts for the reception and support of the mentally disabled subject as it currently exists in France, highlighting their effects on psychic disability. This novel project takes place in a medico-social institution, a residential home in which live eight adults with disabilities, women and men, aged 19 to 55, and at a particular moment in institutional history. Sustained by several mediations, it is first through the support of a jigsaw puzzle project that the experience is initiated. Then a writing workshop will be organised, whereby residues of proceedings will find a form in which to be recorded. The objective will be the implementation of intersubjective space, despite the impediment identified at the level of individual subjective psyches. The effectiveness of the methods used can be detected in the intersubjective connections, allowing the renewal of symbolization and creativity.