THERAPY
interview by OLIVIER ZAHM
artwork by BETTY TOMPKINS
when love turns toxic, can it be called love anymore? the systems physiotherapist bertrand boutron treats it as a dysfunctional survival mechanism.
OLIVIER ZAHM — As a therapist, you see people who come to you when love is going badly or ending badly, when the suffering is getting to be too much to bear. How do you treat this amorous distress?
BERTRAND BOUTRON — Like any other kind of suffering. I make no distinction between physical, emotional, and psychological suffering: the perspective is the same. It’s all part of the indivisible individual. What lies behind this suffering — mental or physical — is a slowing down of exchange. We feel bad when there’s a clot in an artery that slows down our blood, our biological and physiological exchanges. We feel bad when we’re in a queue, in a traffic jam….