32

The conflicts between families and treatment institutions can affect the quality of care provided. The carer is in danger of feeling disoriented concerning his objectives – in the sense of his function – and his skills. To study these difficulties, the author draws on ideas concerning groups and, in particular the “operative” analytic group as discussed by E. Pichon-Rivière: the ideas of task and shared fantasies are explored as well the specific fantasy of child abduction. Family members and institutional actors alike are animated by it, the former fearing that the latter are seeking to “replace” their role with the child, while the latter imagine that “they can do better than them”. An analysis follows of the links between this fantasy and those of the primal scene and the family romance. Psychoanalytic family therapy (PFT) makes it possible to tackle these difficulties between families and institutions, serving as a buffer, a means of regulation, and a factor in the resolution of these difficulties. A case of PFT illustrates these remarks.