Chapter 3. History of Dissociation (2) From Hysteria to Dissociation (11)

Janet’s theory of dissociation
Next we examine Pierre Janet’s theory. Needless to say that Janet was the one who initiated the use of the term dissociation. Janet created his own dynamic psychiatry which is quite different from Freud’s. We will examine his theory based on van der Hart’s review papers (van der Hart ----- ).
The original term of dissociation in French was désagrégation. It then got translated into dissociation in English and people like Morton Prince started to use the term. Janet not only initiated the use this term, but also elaborated on its pathological meanings to the highest level. Janet actually did the groundwork of the study of dissociation a century ago, that we can still learn from. However, his theory had not been paid its due attention even in France for a long time.
It was toward the end of the last century that there was a revival of Janetian theory. La Société Pierre Janet (Pierre Janet Society) was established in Paris and is active in propagating Janet’s teaching mainly on line （http://pierre-janet.com/）. Janet’s works that had been out of print are now available since1973.
The revival of Janet’s theory was due to several factors including Ellenberger’s “Discovery of Unconscious” that discusses his work in detail (Ellenberger, 1979), and the decline of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis and theory of dissociation are incompatible, and it was not just a mere coincidence that Janet’s theory reemerged and Freud’s theory lost its influence toward the end of the last century. Freud’s underestimation of the concept of dissociation failed to give the psychoanalysis its background for the understanding and the treatment of dissociative pathology.