Polyphonic Listening and Associative Work in a Psychoanalytic Group of Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Based on sequences recorded during a group therapy session attended by schizophrenic patients in a psychiatric hospital, this study explores the process of constructing a group associative chain. It highlights the way in which the disjointed and dissociated productions of delusional (and hallucinating) schizophrenic patients in a group setting can, in certain conditions (described in this article), gradually be turned into a group associative chain, taking each person’s productions into account.