[Prolegomena before any psychoanalytical approach to endometriosis]

Endometriosis is a disease, which requires medication or surgery to be treated. However, it can be considered as a symptom psychoanalytically speaking. Before going further into the question from this point of view, let us examine some prolegomena--preliminary principles. The scientistic ideology of a La Mettrie's "Human Machine", the unconscious subject promoted by psychoanalysts for more than a century, the Anglo-American notion of post-traumatic stress disorder, and womanhood and the mental structure customarily called hysteria stand for the main prolegomena. English and French speaking psychopathological literature is reviewed to introduce our personal experience of women with endometriosis. Finally, a public consultation is considered to confirm or invalidate scientific data stemmed from psychoanalytical experience.