the essential
The Moissagais writer worked for a long time as a psychologist and psychoanalyst in the city. Today he delivers a testimonial book, “A Country Psychoanalyst”.
Jean-Pierre Gendre is a native of the country. Born in 1937, near Moissac, he grew up in a working-class environment (his father was a roadman, his mother a barrier guard), before embarking on a career as an educator, then as an executive within the judicial protection of young people. .
At the age of fifty, his life took a big turn. He then set up as a freelance clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst in Moissac, where he worked for three decades in his office on the corner of rue Gambetta and rue du Coq, near the station.
He wrote down on paper his testimony about this life focused on caring for others but also his civic commitment. His work, “A Country Psychoanalyst”, has just been published by Editions de l'Esperluette. We met him to discuss the genesis of this project.
Your journey is atypical. Can you summarize it in a few words?
I grew up in a modest environment before starting to study psychology which I interrupted, initially, by engaging in the administration of supervised education. I was an educator, then I rose through the ranks, until I held management positions in the judicial protection of youth for thirty-five years, until 1993. At the same time, I continued my studies and I set up in 1994 as a freelancer in Moissac, as a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, until 2022.
What is the genesis of your work, “A Country Psychoanalyst”?
When I retired, I took up gardening, but not only that! I had this need to provide my professional testimony; to put within the reader's reach the concepts of psychoanalysis, theoretical references on the human psyche and means of treatment. I also wanted to testify to symptomatic cases that I have encountered in my career. The book also opens in a more general, more political way, on violence, living together and the sharing of wealth, with in particular a reflection on precarious workers. The book is also a way of crowning my career, of sublimating it.
You are particularly attached to the psychological malaise affecting the agricultural sector.
Indeed, the sector has been in great pain for a long time. I was involved in the multi-professional suicide prevention system in the agricultural sector set up with the MSA with the referring psychologist Évelyne Fillol. I met a lot of farmers in difficulty for around ten years, victims of economic constraints and above all loneliness. It is symptomatic to note that, during the period of demonstrations last winter, the rate of suicides had decreased.
How can we obtain your work?
Currently, you can find a few copies at the Le Temps de lire bookstore, in Lafrançaise.
