ABSTRACT

The central fact of the Janetian opus is the phenomenon of desagregation. Pierre Janet’s fundamental distinction between desagregation and dissociation has been largely forgotten and the terms, at least in English, are regarded as meaning pretty much the same thing. Neurophysiological evidence supports the idea that desagregation is a vulnerability out of which dissociation, that is, splitting, can arise. It should be noted that the disintegration, that is, desagregation, is distinguished from the “dissociation” of the special group. The state of disintegration allows one part of the psychological system to become separated, or dissociated, from the rest. Sigmund Freud rejected the notion of the stigmata, influencing the manner of diagnosis of “hysteria” in the twentieth century, which led to disastrous outcomes. Janet’s theory implies a hierarchy decreed by the state of integration. States of high integration are associated with the experience of self, that is, higher-order consciousness.