Face à la souffrance de l’adolescent suicidant, des interrogations fortes s’imposent au clinicien. Ces interrogations donnent lieu à des questionnements théorico-cliniques assez diversifiés : désir de vivre ou désir de mourir ? Recherche de l’autre ou anéantissement de l’objet ? Consacrer notre raisonnement au seul aspect destructeur de cet acte consisterait à laisser de côté les demandes adressées à l’objet. Reconnaître exclusivement dans la tentative de suicide la dimension relationnelle et organisatrice reviendrait à nier tout ce qui s’organise du côté de la mort. L’agir à l’adolescence nous met devant cette tâche difficile, consistant à « écouter » la souffrance d’autrui à des niveaux très contradictoires et à penser ce qui pour l’autre est impensable. Dans cet écrit, nous nous proposons d’illustrer la complexité de la clinique de l’adolescent suicidant, en prenant appui sur la diversité qui caractérise la réflexion psychanalytique francophone et anglophone, ainsi que sur le cas d’une adolescente suicidante de 15 ans. L’étude du discours de Léa, nous révèle que le geste suicidaire peut relever des processus psychiques et des degrés d’intrication pulsionnelle, très différents, pouvant cohabiter au sein d’un même sujet. En effet, certains passages à l’acte maintiennent une valeur structurante précieuse qui se potentialise dans la relation objectale, alors que d’autres dévoilent la massivité des processus primaires, le désinvestissement objectal, résultant d’un processus de déliaison pulsionnelle plus ou moins important.

This article examines the understanding of suicide attempts in adolescence, a phenomenon which is particularly worrying nowadays and causes serious concern, which mental health professionals often have to deal with in their clinical practice. Some crucial clinical questions arise, in relation to this phenomenon: is the suicidal gesture a sign of an internal disaster, or a sign of reconstruction and psychic reorganisation? This question, which psychoanalysis has been particularly concerned with, gives rise to diverse theoretical and clinical questions: does the suicidal gesture indicate a desire to live or a desire to die? Does it indicate a search for the other or the object's annihilation? What part do life and death play in attempted suicide in adolescence? On one hand, when exclusively focusing on the destructive aspect of this act, the demands of suicidal adolescents towards objects may be neglected. On the other hand, only recognising the relational dimensions of such an act and its function of elaboration could lead us to deny its death function. While dealing with suicidal adolescents, the clinician must face the difficult task of “listening” to the suffering on many contradictory levels.

In this paper, we will try to illustrate the complexity of the suicidal adolescent's psychic mechanisms. Firstly, a number of basic ideas from the Anglophone and Francophone psychoanalytic literature and research, regarding this topic, will be presented, in order to stress the complementary but often contradictory features of different theoretical and clinical contributions. This part of the article focuses on the dimension of destructiveness, which is discussed in its link to adolescent processes. Secondly, the case of a fifteen-year-old suicidal teenager, Lea, will be presented, in order to highlight the psychic mechanisms participating in suicide attempts in adolescence.

The study of Lea's discourse reveals that the suicidal gesture in adolescence is linked to very different psychic processes that can coexist within the same subject. Certain forms of acting out may have a relational function and thus a constructive value, while others reveal more primary processes and in some cases a withdrawal from the object, as a result of the diffusion of instincts. The objective of this article is to encourage clinicians to consider the plurality of the psychic mechanisms participating in suicide attempts during adolescence.