Des souffrances multiples à la souffrance paroxystique.

in Pensée plurielle (2015), 2015/1(N°38), 9-22

The purpose of our study is to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms playing a role in the deconstruction of mental suffering. With the support of the Luxembourgish RE.SO.NORD (REseau du ... [more ▼]

The purpose of our study is to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms playing a role in the deconstruction of mental suffering. With the support of the Luxembourgish RE.SO.NORD (REseau du centre SOcial de la région du NORD), a diagnosis of the sufferings of people living in rural districts was completed with the first-line health and social professionals who work with their clients on a daily basis. Twenty-six professionals participated in interviews during which they described the sufferings of their clients. They appeared as the effects of a drift and show how the amplification process of psychic sufferings (permanent anxiety, depression, etc.) and the accumulation of social and family factors (job loss, family separation, etc.) can lead to the emergence of critical mental health conditions. In this logic of paroxystic gradation, mental health problems may aggregate a set of harmful behaviors. This gradation illustrates the state achieved by the clients when their intimate and social domains of life are impeded. The paroxystic suffering represents the state during which the individual seems to fail to cope with their sufferings and is no longer able to recover. The professionals recognize a lack of information and incentive during medical consultation in which their clients dread the fear of being stigmatized. They admit the existence of poor coordination and access to primary health care and a lack of support for those who suffer and their family caregivers in order to prepare them to become actors that can mobilize their "health capability". [less ▲]