Ethnopsychiatry, which heals by taking into account cultures, explained by Tobie Nathan

Alexis Patri 2:00 p.m., November 13, 2021

INTERVIEW

Should psychiatry approach in the same way the mental ruminations of a tuk tuk driver in Bangkok, the depression of a Burgundian peasant or the silence of an immigrant girl from her native Benin?

No, according to Tobie Nathan.

For this psychiatrist, ethnopsychiatry has a card to play in all these situations.

The one who allowed the emergence of this branch of psychiatry, which intends to treat by taking into account the cultural particularities of each patient, explains how it works on Saturday, in Isabelle Morizet's program 

>> Find Isabelle Morizet's shows every weekend from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Europe 1 as well as in podcast and replay here

Very far from colonial psychiatry

"It's very simple," Tobie Nathan promises. "There are people who come from elsewhere. They have problems. We have the choice between telling them that we have a way of treating and that it is the right one. In general, if we do that, they remain one. session, then they leave. Because they see that it has nothing to do with them. Or else, we say to ourselves that with them there are other ways of thinking, and that is interesting to know what these ways of thinking are and how they would be treated if they had stayed in the country. And there, all of a sudden, a world opens up. But to know all that, you have to go in these countries, you have to go and see the people. "

And psychiatry insists: it is important not to confuse ethnopsychiatry with colonial psychiatry, which was rampant in particular in the 1950s. "Oh no, that was a disaster!", He regrets.

"Colonial psychiatry was a time when we associated diseases with races. It developed in Algeria at the time of colonization. It was said, for example, that Algerians were all lazy and that it was almost a ' racial disease. It's inhuman! It was terrible things like that. And there was a whole school of thought, which was called the school of Algiers. "

All that a name hides

Tobie Nathan then offers an example of a possible beginning of consultation. A demonstration that works according to him whether you are a migrant from a distant country and culture, or not at all. "I would ask what your name is. If that's really your name," explains the ethnopsychiatrist. “Often there is a name behind the name. Afterwards, I would ask you if you know what that name means. If there are other names in the family. , we find a universe. Already, just with that, we have defined a territory, a universe, practices. "

The ethnopsychiatrist completes his demonstration with a concrete example.

"If your name is Lévêque, does that have a bearing on Christianity? No, my name is Lévêque because in fact, my name is Lévi. And then the name was changed during the war" , he imagines.

"There are things like that that suddenly get you into family stories. And if you want to heal someone without knowing their ancestors, you can still run."