[2][4] After graduating Sechehaye studied at the Rousseau Institute, where she worked as the assistant of Édouard Claparède, and later went on to establish her own practice based on the encouragement of Raymond de Saussure.
[2][4] Sechehaye followed the work of Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget closely, believing there was a link between psychosis and trauma experienced as a child.
[2][3] One of her most notable cases was undertaken with a psychotic patient referred to as "Renée", a pseudonym used for Louisa Düss,[note 1] whom the Sechehayes eventually adopted.
The approach significantly influenced mental illness research by introducing an antipsychiatry framework that positioned the patient's experiences as a valid means of establishing their case histories.
[4]: 168 As a result of this work, the book Autobiography of a Schizophrenic Girl: The True Story of "Renee" was published highlighting the most memorable aspects of the disease.