Pierre Janet wrote works of great prestige and repercussion in the field of psychology and psychopathology. His theory of psychopathology is based on the hypothesis that the mental apparatus is not really a unit. It is rather held together by the action of an internal force that synthesizes its diverse cognitive and emotional elements. In his article Janet examines factors that can lead to the breakdown and consequent dissociation of this apparatus. In his view, hysteria is a true prototype of the psychopathological situation where elements that should remain "unconscious," that is, that should serve as mere background for mental functioning, acquire autonomous and morbid access to the consciousness of the subject.
Janet; psychology; psychic automatism; unconscious; hysteria