Marmottan and time: Thinking of addiction as a temporal pathology

This article examines the passage of time as a key to understanding addiction, based on the history and practice of the Marmottan Medical Center. Created in the early 1970s against a backdrop of drug enforcement and counterculture, Marmottan stood out for its original clinical approach, championed in particular by Claude Olievenstein, combining psychoanalysis, phenomenology, and non-repressive care for drug users. At the heart of this approach is the idea that addiction is not only a pathological relationship with the product or the law, but also an attack on subjective temporality. The article thus explores the centrality of time in understanding and treating addiction. It first revisits Marmottan’s theoretical and clinical legacy, then uses a phenomenological approach to analyze the temporal experience of addicted individuals. Finally, it examines contemporary transformations in addictive temporalities, particularly those linked to stimulants and social acceleration, and their clinical implications.