Through a brief description of the development and evolution of anti-depressants, the confrontation between the two lines of approach are described in relation to depression, considered the “disease” par excellence of contemporary life. While the starting point for psychoanalysis is the notion of conflict, psychiatry presupposes biological insufficiency, or deficits in neurotransmission. Two lines of thinking are therefore developed, indicating distinct positions, one privileging the patient’s subjectivity, and the other stressing the point of view of scientific objectivity. The question we ask is how should psychoanalysis position itself in view of the increasing medicalization of life and the advances of neurobiology. In response, we present a theoretical path opened up by Jacques Lacan, where he discusses the distinction between transference and suggestion.
Psychoanalysis; psychiatry; transference; suggestion; conflict; neurotransmission