Marcel Réja and theatre therapy.

We report on the play entitled (The daily bread) by Marcel Réja (1873-1957), a French alienist and historian of art in asylums. He also wrote short plays, although he is less well known as a playwright. The plays were printed just in time for the performance, which often took place on the day of the asylum fair.

Empathy in medicine: A ritualistic healing function?

Marcel Réja (1873-1957) French alienist evokes in his book « Au pays des miracles » this innumerable people of healers, mystics, empirics, magnetizers, mediums and fantasists. All operating "cures more wonderful than each other". This book questions in a very relevant way the role of the power of the spirit, of healing by the spirit and therefore of suggestion.

Specificity and wealth of autobiographical memories in restrictive and mixed anorexic patients.

The reduced specificity of positive and negative autobiographical memories observed in anorexic (AN) patients may reflect a global disturbance in their emotional information processing. However, their emotional difficulties may differ according to the subtype of AN, implying possible differences in the manifestation of autobiographical memory impairments. The aims of the study were (1) to confirm the autobiographical memory deficits in AN patients in terms of specificity and wealth of memories, and (2) to compare autobiographical deficits according to the AN subtype: restrictive type (AR) or binge/purging type (AB).

Living as a couple with anorexia nervosa: A dyadic interpretative phenomenological analysis.

This study examined the difficulties couples face in relation to anorexia nervosa. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, five couples in which one of the partners lives with anorexia nervosa were interviewed separately. The findings are conceptualized into three areas: first, the encounter 'at the crossroads between remission and relapse'; second, the way that 'anorexia reveals itself'; and finally, the way the 'ménage à trois' works, including the illness fully as part of the couple.