Abstract

TISSERON, Serge. The Pathogenic Secrets in Families, and Beyond...Translated byVerónica Estay Stange. Tóp. Sem [online]. 2021, n.45, pp.45-59.  Epub Mar 01, 2021. ISSN 2594-0619.

In order to approach, from the point of view of psychology, the subject of family secrets —the intimate source of what, on a collective scale, can take the form of “post-memory”—, it has been necessary to introduce theoretical renovations in relation to the role of the preconscious and the subconscious, to cleavage, to the symbolization that operates in a sensorial-affective-motor mode, and to social reality. Adopting these renovations, from the beginning of the 1980s I proposed to apprehend the pathogenic secrets around three concepts: the Secret (with a capital letter) as a psychic fact, the “oozing” of the secret, and its “bouncing” through generations. These tools allowed me to better understand the importance of pathogenic secrets not only in families but also in institutions, which can be considered as one of the links that make possible the passage from individual to social and historical memory.

Keywords : pathogenic secret; psychic secret; generational transmission; psychoanalysis.