- La Borde clinic
La Borde is a
psychiatric clinic that opened in 1951, near the town ofCour-Cheverny in theLoire Valley ofFrance . The clinic was established with the goal of becoming everything the word "asylum " once meant: a shelter, a place of refuge, a sanctuary. Still in operation today, La Borde has been a defining model in the field ofinstitutional psychotherapy . It is an innovative psychiatric clinic where patients are liberated to actively participate in the running the facility.Founder
The clinic was founded by
Jean Oury . A young psychiatrist who gained invaluable experience in experimental therapy at the famousSaint-Alban Psychiatric Hospital , the result of a WWII preponderance on the advancement of the movement ofinstitutional psychotherapy . He was influenced by innovative therapists such asPaul Balvet ,Lucien Bonnafé , the philosopherGeorges Canguilhem , and the poetPaul Eluard .History
The psychiatric practice of Oury's clinic would be ever-searching in its analysis of the relations between the "patients" and the "psychotherapists". It borrowed the idea of
Hermann Simon that it is necessary to look after the establishment and to look after each patient, while returning initiative and responsibility to them by developing situations in which they can work and express their creativity. FromFrançois Tosquelles , Paul Bavet,Andre Chaurand and Lucien Bonnafé the clinic also took the lead in the development of a new practice of the psychiatry, in which "care, research and formation" are integrated in a collective step.Since the mid-50s
Félix Guattari became a fixture at La Borde, revolutionizing its practice and organization and producing alongside Oury a large body of theoretical work on the practice and theory ofSchizoanalysis , set in practice at La Borde, and popularized in his1972 collaboration with the philosopherGilles Deleuze , "Anti-Œdipus ". [See Guattari (1984) and Deleuze and Guattari (1972).]Among the many distinctive aspects of La Borde is the annual summer tradition in which the "boarders" and staff work together to perform a play, choosing from among the world's greatest classical works.
Nicolas Philibert , the documentary film-maker best-known in the English-speaking world for his "Être et avoir", made a documentary set at La Borde entitled "Every Little Thing" (French "La Moindre des choses"). The film was released in 1997 and follows the patients and staff staging their production of "Operette" byWitold Gombrowicz . [imdb title|id=0119689|title=Every Little Thing]Notes
ources
* Deleuze, Gilles and
Félix Guattari . 1972. "Anti-Œdipus ". Trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem and Helen R. Lane. London and New York: Continuum, 2004. Vol. 1 of "Capitalism and Schizophrenia ". 2 vols. 1972-1980. Trans. of "L'Anti-Oedipe". Paris: Les Editions de Minuit. ISBN 0826476953.
* Guattari, Félix. 1984. "Molecular Revolution: Psychiatry and Politics". Trans. Rosemary Sheed. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0140551603.
*
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