Une institution en quatre lectures
Four ways of analyzing an institution

Summary/Abstract: As a group technique, Mental Hygiene was born before WWII under the influence of various trends of psychology and psychoanalysis. It was rediscovered by G. Mastropaolo, founder of the Institut Maieutique of Lausanne, who applied it to liberated concentration camp children starting in 1955. Nowadays this technique occupies an important place among the Institute's activities. The theoretical framework of our research uses the cognitive perspective on work instruments, which provides us a wide range of topics of analysis. We set out to analyze Mental Hygiene while pursuing two specific objectives: 1. discussing the contribution of the actual users with respect to Mastropaolo's initial concept of Mental Hygiene; 2. analyzing the representation of Mental Hygiene and the representation of Mastropaolo's experimental set-up in relation to its users and beneficiaries (trainers, team members, and inpatients). Our study aims at being more than a psychological instrument applying to a collective situation. A multi-layered reading allows us to unveil that organizational culture which MH practitioners call the "maieutic spirit".

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