Édith Lecourt

An overview of the use of music therapy in the context of Alzheimer's disease: A report of a French expert group

Objectives: The aim of this overview is to present the developments of music therapy in France, its techniques, mechanisms and principal indications, mainly in the context of Alzheimers disease. Methods: An international review of the literature on music therapy applied to Alzheimers disease was conducted using the principal scientific search engines. A work group of experts in music therapy and psychosocial techniques then considered the different points highlighted in the review of literature and discussed them. Results and Discussion: Clinical and neurophysiological studies have enlightened some positive benefits of music in providing support for people with Alzheimers disease or related disorders. Music therapy acts mainly through emotional and psycho-physiological pathways. It includes a series of techniques that can respond to targeted therapeutic objectives. Some studies have shown that music therapy reduces anxiety, alleviates periods of depression and aggressive behaviour and thus significantly improves mood, communication and autonomy of patients. Conclusion: Psychosocial interventions, such as music therapy, can contribute to maintain or rehabilitate functional cognitive and sensory abilities, as well as emotional and social skills and to reduce the severity of some behavioural disorders.

L’Extension de la Psychanalyse, Pour une Métapsychologie du Troisième Type

A t the start of the 1970s, Kaës proposed the concept of the appareil psychique groupal (group psychic apparatus), the title of a work (1976) following his thesis, which has spearheaded a large body of research. The concept returned recently in greater detail and supplemented by research (a new edition in 2013); it is also to be found in this, his latest work, L’extension de la psychanalyse (The Extension of Psychoanalysis). This concept of course echoes that of Freud’s “psychic apparatus.” The issue is to study psychic reality on the level of the group, that is, in trans-subjective manner. In 1976, Kaës defined the appareil psychique groupal (group psychic apparatus) as a psychic construction common to members of a group and something required to form a group. It is a system of liaison and transformation. It shows in particular how drives are transformed when we are in group situations. These considerations bring us to the hypothesis, set out in recent years, that part of the subject’s unconscious is located outside of him, in particular in these group links.