Les idées fixes et la psychologie de l'action de Pierre Janet

Janet's conception of the psychic trauma and the formation of emotional complexes (fixed ideas) was discussed. This conception of the psychic trauma and of the fixed ideas is the basis for Janet's nosology of neurotic disorders. The neuroses are understood as ”functional” disorders because of their functional pathogenesis. A stratified hierarchy of functions is explicated by Janet's psychology of action and by a hierarchy of nine different psychic tendencies. The impact of ”psychic tension” and ”psychic force” for the formation of and for the effects of the psychic tendencies is shown. The effect of changes in the hierarchy of the psychic tendencies on the pathogenesis of mental disorders is explicated.