The meaning of practices

Abstract

This article critically describes the main events and vicissitudes of psychiatry in France, starting from the notion and application of the principles of Mental Hygiene and the changes that took place after the Second World War, which led, under the inspiration of the experiences of institutional psychotherapy, to the establishment of the so-called health policy of the Sector and the principle of therapeutic continuity, and analyses the consequences that the application of neoliberal political and economic principles has had on the field of psychiatry and mental health.