Reflections on some contributions to contemporary psychotraumatology in the light of Janet’s critique of Freud’s theories

This chapter compares Pierre Janet’s views on the dissociative responses to psychological trauma with those influenced by the psychoanalytic theory of defence mechanisms, in order to examine their accordance with some findings of contemporary psychotraumatology studies. We agree with Russell Meares’ statement that both psychoanalysis and Janet’s psychological analysis seem often compatible with clinical observations and with data from contemporary neuroscience (Meares, 2012, p. 27): our aim, therefore, is not to argue in favour of one of these theories and against the other. Rather, we mean to emphasize the relevance of Janet’s ideas for contemporary psychotraumatology without implying that the psychoanalytic ones are less – or more – relevant. A brief reminder of how Janet summarized the main diverging features between his theory and psychoanalysis will provide the starting point for our reflections on the different interpretations of some contemporary psychotraumatology studies suggested by the two theories.