North African Countries

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NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Psychoanalysis is practiced in some North African countries, particularly Morocco and Tunisia. In Algeria it can be found in rare institutions. It seems never to have made an appearance in the remaining two North African countries (Libya and Mauritania). The presence of psychoanalysis is due to several factors: a French colonial past, cultural openness, multilingualism, the proximity of Europe, and the existence of several different trends in clinical psychiatry. However, psychoanalysis remains relatively undeveloped in spite of a genuine need to help a generation that suffered the effects of social violence and upheaval in the 1990s.

Morocco was the only North African country exposed to psychoanalysis during the colonial period. It was introduced by René Laforgue in 1948 when he went into exile with a group of friends and analysands, who were then joined by practitioners already practicing in the country (Jean Bergeret, Maurice Igert, Monique Foissin, and Louis Clément). Laforgue postulated the existence of radical structural differences among different peoples, ethnic groups, religions, and races. These nationalistic theories were far removed from North African preoccupations and were rejected by North African practitioners. Some of his students occupied positions of responsibility in hospitals (Igert, Clément, and Rolland) and contributed to introducing psychopathology to Morocco.

Because of the existence of a structured school of psychiatry under the patronage of Antoine Porot and the absence of psychoanalysts working in institutions, Algeria remained untouched by psychoanalysis during the colonial period. Nonetheless, three analysts set up practice there during the 1950s.

Though Angélo Hesnard was mobilized and stationed at Bizerte, Tunisia, in 1940, his stay there did not contribute to introducing psychoanalysis to the country. Institutional psychotherapy was introduced by Frantz Fanon, a politically committed psychiatrist who worked in Algeria in 1953 and Tunisia in 1956. Psychoanalysis began to take root in Tunisia in the 1960s as a result of the work of Lydia Torasi, an Italian psychologist-psychoanalyst.

After Morocco gained its independence in 1956, Laforgue and the other members of his group progressively returned to France. Some, like Clément and Legrand, delayed longer than others. During this period the first Moroccan psychoanalyst, Leila Cherkaoui, commenced work in 1969, followed by Smiljka Sif and Mohamed Abed. In the 1980s a new wave of French-trained psychiatrists and psychologists reintroduced psychoanalysis in the public and private sectors. Of special note are Jalil Bennani, Monique Kasbaoui, Ghita El Khayat, and Mohammed Fouad Benchekroun.

When Algeria became independent in 1962, most French psychiatrists left the country and local talent such as Khaled Benmiloud and Mahfoud Boucebci began to develop psychiatry. The latter helped open up treatment centers to psychoanalysis. Although not a psychoanalyst, Boucebci used some psychoanalytic concepts in his writings. Prominent psychoanalysts during the 1980s were Boubker Gouttali and Lotfi Benhabib, the latter of whom created the first psychoanalytic institution for children.

The same period in Tunisia saw the appearance of Tunisian practitioners (Samia Attia, Saïda Douki, Fakhredinne Haffani, Essedik Jeddi, Taoufik Skhiri, Khalifa Harzallah) and the integration of psychoanalysis in training centers and institutions. Although these therapists do not all practice as psychoanalysts, an element of psychoanalysis is present in their writings and practices.

As of 2004, North Africa had no developed psychoanalytic institutions similar to those in Europe and North America. Nonetheless, work groups and individuals practicing in the public and private sectors contribute to transmitting and developing psychoanalysis in North Africa; psychoanalytic thought exists as a frame of reference for many clinical psychiatrists and psychologists; and practitioners affiliate themselves with different psychoanalytic trends. Not all the work of these practitioners has been published, so an inventory of current research cannot be exhaustive.

In Morocco, Jalil Bennani, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, was the driving force behind the creation of the association Le texte freudien (The Freudian Text) in 1985 and the Association marocaine de psychothérapie (Moroccan Association for Psychotherapy) in 1992. For three years the first of these organizations brought together all who were interested in psychoanalytic texts, whether practitioners or not. The second consisted of several commissions, including one devoted to psychoanalysis. Studies published during the 1980s and later deal with a variety of questions, such as circumcision (Mohammed Fouad Benchekroun), bilingualism (Jalil Bennani), the role of the father (Dachmi), and cultural resistance (Ghita El Khayat).

In Algeria, Loufti Benhabib and Abdelhag Benounich created the Association de formation continue en santé mentale (Association for Ongoing Mental Health Training) in 1988 and organized psychoanalytic training seminars and symposia, to which practitioners from abroad were invited to attend. In 1994 the association had to suspend its work because of the political situation. In 1989 clinical psychologists Mohand A. Aït Sidhoum, Fatima Arar, and Djamila Haddadi founded the Société algérienne de recherches en psychologie (Algerian Society for Psychological Research). This society launched the journal Psychologie (Psychology) and the book series "Sémailles" (Seeds) with a view to disseminating psychoanalytic thought, and in the 1990s it was studying how to establish psychoanalytic training complying with the requirements of the International Psychoanalytical Association. Earlier publications worthy of attention are Mahfoud Boucebci's work on individual and family psychopathology and on children in traditional environments.

In Tunisia, the Société d'études et de recherches en psychanalyse (Society for Psychoanalytic Study and Research) formed in 1990 around Mohamed Halayem, the child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. It uses seminars and supervised groups to introduce young psychiatrists and psychologists to psychoanalytic theory and practice. Among available studies, Mohamed Ghorbal's work on the oral nature of communication in North African society is of particular interest. Also worthy of note are Saïda Douki's research on depression and suicide, Essedik Jeddi's studies of the family and psychosis, and Mohamed Halayem's study of semantics. But this society had only a brief existence.

In 1998 another Tunisian, Riadh Ben Rejeb, founded the Unité de Recherche en Psychopathologie Clinique (URPC) [Unit for Clinical Research in Psychopathology] and began to organize annual international meetings around various themes. Training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, in individual psychoanalytic psychodrama, and analysis is organized through conferences, seminars, and psychoanalytic treatment. Neither a training institute nor a society per se, the range of its courses and activities remains restricted, creating an intellectual climate informed by psychoanalysis but not a culture of analytic learning. Psychoanalysis has had a satutary effect on the training of Tunisian physicians with respect to infant and adolescent psychopathology, but the country is still without a psychoanalytic institution.

Psychoanalysis is thus established in North Africa, and institutions in the region are studying how to open up new orientations and promote new initiatives in analyst training.

Also worth mentioning is the work of researchers outside North Africa whose writings have contributed to a greater awareness of psychopathology and psychoanalysis in North Africa. Of note is Fethi Benslama's work on Islam and psychoanalysis and on the role of the father, the individual, and sacrifice. Malek Chebel continues to research the Arabo-Muslim imagination, the body, love, and seduction. Daniel Sibony has studied how fundamental texts structure mentalities, but his interpretations concerning the community of believers in Islam have received much criticism. Many authors, whether North African (such as Zhor Benchemsi, Mohand Chabane, Okba Natahi, and Abdesselam Yahyaoui) or non-North African (for example, Jacques Hassoun, René Kaës, Olivier Douville, and Jean-Michel Hirt), have studied exile and migration. Research that focuses on North Africa is characterized by fruitful and sometimes contradictory debates and ongoing questioning reflecting the unique character of North Africa, its relationship with foreign languages (which are sometimes rejected and sometimes reappropriated), and questions of identity specific to each North African country.

Jalil Bennani