I want to recommend a French author I’ve become addicted to (though I don’t find his person always very sympathetic): Emmanuel Carrère. I mentioned before that he’s been called the French Knausgaard, though admittedly that’s not necessarily a high recommendation in my opinion.
I would be curious what any survivor of a mental crisis or psychotherapy would make of him. In his book Le Royaume (The Kingdom), Carrère tells this story about one of his worst mental crises. In desperation, he goes to one of the most prestigious Paris analysts, an older psychiatrist named Roustang, and tells him he’s contemplating suicide, and would he accept him as a patient? Roustang the analyst replies: Non! I can see that your only purpose in consulting an analyst is to outsmart him.
Carrère: “So can you suggest any solution?”
Roustang: “Well, you mentioned killing yourself. Suicide gets a bad press these days, but sometimes it’s for the best.”
There follows a long silence, after which Roustang adds: “Sinon, vous pouvez vivre.” (“Or you could just go on living.”)
Carrère leaves dissatisfied, but from that day on he begins to get better.
I think this can be interpreted on several levels. First of all, Roustang may have recognized a certain infantile impulse in Carrère’s threat of suicide. It’s intended to force the parental figure of the therapist to take unconditional responsibility for the childishly helpless patient. The therapist calls his bluff: grow up or disappear.
Second, Roustang is just stating the facts. Sometimes suicide is the lesser evil. In the ancient world, this was an accepted view. There are worse things than suicide.
Third, Roustang was versed in the literature of Existentialism which entertains the question, why not suicide? Suicide might be construed as the ultimate assertion of human freedom. But it can only be an act of freedom if its opposite is equally within range. Forced to recognize that his existence is circumscribed by this very freedom, Carrère assumes responsibility for his existence and in so doing no longer expects another to take responsibility for him. It’s his choice alone and he chooses to live.
Finally, it’s possible that Carrère simply got on the nerves of the old shrink, as he sometimes gets on mine, to the point that Roustang blithely calls the patient’s bluff: So do it then! I’ve had enough of your whining.
Could all these interpretations be true at the same time?
Signed,
Andrew (Weeks)
Normal Thoughts 