The clinic was founded by Jean Oury, a psychiatrist who previously worked in experimental therapy at Saint-Alban Psychiatric Hospital. The psychiatric practice borrowed the idea of Hermann Simon that it is necessary to look after the establishment and to look after each patient, while returning initiative and responsibility to them by developing situations in which they can work and express their creativity. Since the mid-50s Félix Guattari has worked at La Borde, developing its practice and organization and producing alongside Oury a body of theoretical work on the practice and theory of schizoanalysis, set in practice at La Borde, and included in his 1972 collaboration with the philosopher Gilles Deleuze, Anti-Œdipus. Among the many aspects of La Borde is the annual summer tradition in which the "boarders" and staff work together to perform a play.

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