Affiliated member of the WPA – World Psychiatric Association

Summary of the 1st Inaugural Conference of the MADP at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Oujda, Morocco, March 2022

The city of Oujda, in the Moroccan Oriental, a few steps from neighbouring Algeria, hosted for two days on Friday, March 11 and on Saturday, March 12, 2022 an international colloquium on the theme “Psychoanalysis at the crossroads of disciplines” whose objective was to apprehend the psychological problematic through the intersection of the fields of psychoanalysis, sociology and philosophy. This is because psychoanalysis is in permanent interaction with psychiatry, anthropology, philosophy, sociology and neuroscience.

This colloquium was organized by the young Moroccan Association of Dynamic Psychiatry (MAPD) with the support of the World Association of Dynamic Psychiatry (WADP), the International Federation of Psychiatry (ALFAPSY) and the Psychoanalysis Section of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA).

For the scientific committee of the WADP, philosophy and psychoanalysis are separate and linked at the same time.  They belong to two orders of discourse and their differences are irreducible, but one cannot be conceived without the other.

As for psychiatry, it is also in a very particular link with psychoanalysis. Since Freud, its links with psychoanalysis have varied over the decades. It has thus gone from an impressive infatuation in the post-war period to a great discredit among the younger generations of psychiatrists. This led to psychiatry being placed in a purely descriptive and classificatory clinical perspective to the detriment of a psychopathological understanding of the individual.

These questions were at the heart of the debate, particularly in the context of the Arab-Muslim world facing a rapidly changing West.

The program started on Friday, March 11, 2022 with the opening lecture of Prof. Maria Ammon on “Dynamic Psychiatry a multidisciplinary treatment concept both in theory and practice”.

The scientific program began with a paper on:

  • The new demands of psychic care and the post-modern clinic: Christian Hofman (Paris)
    Videoconference

This was followed by 4 round tables on Saturday March 12:

Round table 1: Psychoanalysis, psychiatry and sociology

  • Unique identity – plural identities. The Maghrebi between East and West: Khalid Hajji (Oujda)
  • What psychiatry owes to psychoanalysis: Hervé Granier (Montpellier)

Round table 2: Philosophy and psychoanalysis among young people

  • Extending psychoanalysis to borderline situations in psychiatry and medicine: The example of its
    application to children and adolescents: Michel Botbol (Paris)
  • Place of psychoanalysis in a therapy of a teenager in 2020:  Ghislane Benjelloun. (Casablanca)

Round table 3: Philosophy and psychoanalysis in the Arab-Muslim world

  • What is the topicality of classical Arab philosophy?:  Ali Benmakhlouf (Paris) Videoconference
  • Why psychoanalysis in Morocco?: Jalil Bennani (Rabat)

Round table 4: Psychoanalysis, philosophy and religiosity

  • We are already living in the future of Freud’s illusion: Faith at the risk of psychoanalysis or
    psychoanalysis at the risk of faith?:  Vincenzo Di Nicola (Montreal) Videoconference
  • The feminine between psychoanalysis and politics: Houria Abdelouahed (Paris)

A meeting also took place with students on the theme “Mental illness: Disease of the brain or disease of the psyche?

Finally, the MADP organized, on the fringe of the symposium and in coordination with the association “Chourouk pour la santé mentale”, on the occasion of the world day on schizophrenia, a morning of reflection on this disease for the families of mental patients. The program included a communication on the Profamille program, testimonies of mental patients and their families, a communication on stress management techniques for families of people suffering from schizophrenia, a communication on social psychiatry and psychoeducation. The event was also marked by the signing of a partnership agreement for the generalization of the program “Profamille” to the entire Eastern region.

The post conference was marked by the visit of the oriental.

Dr. Hachem Tyal
Chair of the Moroccan Association of Dynamic Psychiatry