Based on observations from a clinic of work, this article aims to discuss the relevance of the notion of splitting to understand phenomena such as dual psychic functioning. For that purpose, we engage in a talk with authors mainly from the domains of psychoanalysis and moral psychology. It appears that the explanation of some clinical manifestations is based on the reference to a model of the psychic apparatus which grants specific importance to splitting, as is the case for Christophe Dejours' third topic. We will see how the structural splitting of the third topic proposed by Dejours is plays out in some circumstances by a different type of splitting, called forced splitting.
Splitting; self-deception; third topic