Sur le fonctionnement psychologique pervers

RésuméAprès avoir rappelé la différence entre perversion et fonctionnement psychologique pervers, l’auteur propose une réflexion éthologique et écologique concernant ce fonctionnement particulier. Dans un raisonnement où nous distinguons la signification d’un comportement de sa fonction, il apparaît que la maîtrise du territoire et du rang social sont des « facultés » perverses observables. Le pervers est hyper-adapté à l’environnement social et il maîtrise remarquablement l’art de la relation et de la « territorialisation ». Il a probablement de grandes compétences perceptives et assurément un sens de l’intuition. Au-delà de cette adaptation sociale performante, surviennent néanmoins des « moments » paradoxaux où la « désadaptation » est complète. Ce sont probablement ces moments qui différencient le « leader » du « pervers ». Ces « moments pervers », qui sont rencontrés dans la clinique avec ces patients et qui apparaissent inexplicables d’un point de vue éthologique et adaptatif, sont des phénomènes essentiels à mettre en évidence dans un processus d’évaluation diagnostique.

ObjectivesThe objective of this paper is to analyze the perverse psychological functioning. The author starts by a reminder of the difference between perversion and perverse psychological functioning. Then, he proposes to approach the subject from an ethological and ecological framework: By distinguishing the meaning between a behavior and its function, it appears that control of territory and social rank are observable perverse skills. The psychoanalytic propositions are also discussed. The propositions of this study have some similarities with Freudian metapsychology (particularly the concept of cleavage) but also a major difference: According to the author, the pleasure principle that is automatically assigned to the pervert need to be revisited.Patients and methodsThis theoretical contribution is based on clinical practice in prison (one of the few places where a pervert is encountered in a clinical setting). We propose a three-arguments based method for understanding the adaptive dimension of perverse psychological functioning. First argument: The first view is the model of depression and social rank according to evolutionary psychology. According to the author, the pervert has high skills to assess his Social Attention Holding Potential (SAHP). Furthermore, he is an expert in mastering human territory. Second argument: The pervert seems opposed to the schizophrenic patient for the perception of salient stimuli that are a source of social information. The theory of salience syndrome (following the social neurocognition) makes it possible to conceptualize the excellent perception's skills of the perverse subject. Third argument: Phenomenological philosophy studies the concept of intuition (as opposed to intelligence). Again, this psychological dimension should be regarded as very well controlled by the perverse subject.ResultsWhen we analyze these results, we note a social “hyperadaptation” of these patients. But we have to note that there are moments (short but important) of mismatch and maladjustment. These “perverse moments” are very important to be observed and regarded as a pathognomonic symptomatology of the perverse functioning. This fact probably distinguishes the “leader” from the “pervert”. The specificity of the perverse functioning should be viewed as a continuum of adaptation along which an individual may pass from “hyperadaptation” on the one hand, to moments of failures and mis-adapting on the other hand.ConclusionsThe pervert is well adapted to his social environment and is a specialist in relationship and “territorialization”. He has excellent perception's skills and relational intuition. But in the other hand there are specific moments for which ones the “mis-adapting” is totally complete. This entity requests a specific diagnostic category. This acknowledgment would facilitate research and studies on this type of psychological functioning. But it is probably difficult to have a nomothetic knowledge about the perverse personality. Indeed, some elements such as the limited number of subjects who accept to be evaluated, their elusive logic, their tendency to refuse to cooperate in a study if there are no benefits represent some obstacles. These arguments force us to have a non-conventional research method even though there is not a lack of a nosographic entity. Finally, we note that a perverse psychological functioning is complex to identify, partly because it requires time as well as an observation framework.