On the one hand, an ever increasing demand : a six fold increase in the number of cases of depression within the last thirty years, a quarter of patients seen by general practitioners suffering from some form of psychiatric trouble, etc. On the other hand, widespread agreement that the profession in is the grip of a crisis. Corporatism, sectors working in isolation, ineffective central organisation, an absence of professional consensus among the different practitioners : the result is that the supply is badly equipped to deal with the demand.
What are the origins of this crisis ? Does it run as deep as the very foundations and identity of psychiatry itself ? In particular, what can be done to transform this natural diversity into a real strength ?

Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Marie-Christine Hardy-Baylé works at the André-Mignot hospital, and is a professor of medicine at the University of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. She heads the Association for the Promotion of Public Health of Yvelines Sud. She has notably published, with Pierre Hardy, Manic Depressive : The Story of Pierre.

A hospital director, Christine Bronnec, is in charge of the ANEAS project to evaluate psychiatric needs, and is co-president of the Association for the Promotion of Public Health of Yvelines Sud.