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Since the appearance of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in the 1980 version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the definition and the comprehension of this disorder have largely evolved. The present article is an overview of the principal aspects of GAD in the literature such as the history, the prevalence, the socioeconomic characteristics, the comorbidity, the differential diagnosis and its evolution, while considering the litigious questions concerning its classification. This article also presents a report of the recent studies about the cognitive profile of patients, from a perspective of cognitive experimental psychology and neuropsychology. The consequences on cognitive functioning are discussed in the second part of the article, as well as precautions relatively to functioning clinicians have to consider.

ABSTRACTAny therapist working with borderline patients knows that this is a crisis prone population that can be as burdening for the professional clinician as for the individual who experiences these intense relational episodes. Within this context, it is quite surprising that leaders of the behavioral approach waited until the beginning of the nineties before applying their technology to the treatment of patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Linehan put numerous efforts to empirically demonstrate the efficiency of her newly developed dialectical behavior therapy, which makes it a noteworthy model. This article presents some historical and philosophical underpinnings of her approach, followed by the diagnostic criteria, the main clinical tools she advocates, the various dialectal dilemma, the treatment modes as well as an overview of the basic therapeutic strategies used in this approach.

AbstractThis paper discusses the current status of cognitive therapy research in schizophrenia. After reviewing the extent of the evidence base indicating the efficacy of CT in this disorder, the typical process of therapy is outlined. The key techniques of CT in schizophrenia are described along with typical case examples and caveats concerning possible blocks in therapy. The key techniques described are engaging, developing explanations, introducing doubt, peripheral questioning, behavioural homework experiments, schema focussed approaches and relapse prevention. CT for schizophrenia is proposed as an acceptable, effective and safe adjunct to neuroleptic and other psychosocial interventions.

AbstractThis study attempt to identify the role that empathy plays in intercultural counseling. There can be a tendency with assistance, with the nominative goal of neutrality, to use an "indifference to differences," in Camilleri's (1985) terms. Here, empathy is situated as a particularly crucial variable in the intercultural context, because it enables the counselor to explore both the similarities and the differences in one socio-culture to construct a model of the other and improve the quality of his or her intervention. As well, this article underlines the recent interest in the problem of ethnicities in counseling training programs and the difficulties encountered in evaluation of the offered training.

The history of insanity in whatever setting often introduces a dual interest : from a non-medical perspective, it reveals the repressive nature of society and the evolution of groups in power within this society : in that sense, one discovers that the objectives of the organization taking charge of insanity translates differently according its social definition of insanity at a moment in time and according to the interests that dominate at this same time. On the other hand, from a medical perspective, such history tends to illustrate original social deviancy and social norms and professional concepts of insanity and its treatment tend nonetheless to be inspired by the existing social order indirectly justified. It's in this perspective that we have elaborated the history of the Centre Hospitalier Robert-Giffard, the first psychiatric hospital in Lower Canada. The history covers 5 specific periods : the political and religious period, the period of professional colonialism during the union with Lower Canada, the asylum period, the hospital period or franco-religious when a neurological concept of insanity prevailed, the psychiatric period where insanity becomes a mental illness that is treatable both biologically and psychologically and finally the period where insanity tends to fall back to social deviancy that must be taken in charge by social science experts. The authors end their article with an overview of a more community-oriented period.

AbstractThe author examines the impact of depression in borderline personality and attempts to explain its profound reasons from a psychoanalytical perspective. The psychic organization of the borderline personality predisposes to intense depressive affects. Being unable to come to a sufficiently harmonious psychic integration of life experiences and emotions, the individual conserves a divided and rigid organization of his internal world. The self is thus weakened and vulnerable, confused and defensive, what constitutes grounds for depressive affects. The diagnosis commands meticulous attention, because the borderline personality has tendency to project his difficult affects on people around him. It is often the therapist who first experiences the depression. The borderline personality's recourse to primitive defences renders him even more vulnerable and fragile in his interpersonal relationships and the failures are multiplied in his adaptation to the real world, education, work, personal relationship, etc. The author explains how the borderline personality has a particular way of entering in relation with people and situations. The borderline personality has a diffuse identity and does not distinguish well the borders between himself and the other. Thus, the borderline personality perceives the other more like an instrument to satisfy his own desires and needs. The other does not appear as similar and equal. His relational mode remains essentially narcissistic and his choices of objects as much as his identifications remain of narcissistic nature. This creates a confusion between a more or less important part of his Self and the other. Relational instability of the borderline personality entails breakups, losses that easily become sources of depression. The individual thus becomes lost, empty, depressed as if he was in fact losing an important part of himself.

Keywords: Patient, proches, vécu, équipe mobile de crise, théorisation enracinée

Previous research has highlighted the importance of mental health problems in suicide, particularly in the context of carceral or forensic institutionalization. Studies have suggested that specific measures for suicide prevention in institutions can be helpful, but there is little information on the relative importance and possible interactions between psychopathology, institutional treatment programs, gender, and the risk of suicidal behavior. The current study examined associations between these variables in a sample of 3,620 inmates in secure forensic mental health custody, with a total of 25,778 observations for the time under consideration. Linear logistic mixed models revealed that gender as well as the form and focus of treatment are significantly related to the occurrence of suicidal behavior. Males who had little access to treatment and were involved primarily in activities focused on social reintegration were at higher risk of suicidal behaviour. A diagnosis of schizophrenia without a co-occurring personality disorder was negatively related to suicidal conduct. These results contribute to clarifying the links between mental health, institution-based treatment, and suicidal behavior.

Keywords: Suicide, institution, psychopathologie, traitement, Suicide, institution, psychopathology, treatment, Suicidio, institución, psicopatología, tratamiento

The possession groups from Zaïre are described as various avenues which express and articulate women's relationship to global society, in two settings, rural and urban: Zebola, Mpombo and Mizuka. Focus is put on the specific impact that the cultural idiom which shapes each group has on this relationship. The specificity of each group lies at two levels: the structure of the interpretation System and the position of the trance phenomena within the possession context. In rural areas, the possession language serves as a vehicule which allows women to occupy positions different from those prescribed by the formal structures. This potential revolutionary feature of possession group is reassumed and expanded in urban settings where possession can be interpreted as one of the anchoring points from which emerge new definitions of relationships between sexes and between individuals and society at large.