[Society, medicine and caregiver stress]

CARING STAFF DISTRESS: Is a theme regularly discussed among those who care for patients. The current approach is in favor of the psychological interpretation of this distress. This approach is obviously pertinent, but could be widened to a more sociological vision: is the demand that society places on medicine excessive? THE SEARCH FOR AUTONOMY: The demand of the society emerges in a social universe that privileges the autonomy of the individual. Medicine serves this research for autonomy. Techniques, instrumentalization of the body, and the search for mastery engender the collective utopia of the perfect body; medicine has become a new faith, keeper of potential redemption measures. THE MEDIATOR FUNCTION OF CARING STAFF: Part of the caring staff distress is generated by the encounter between the utopia of health and the reality of suffering patients. In the present context of our society, one of the caring staff's missions is to act as mediator between the patient and the experience of the disease, the patient and the representation that he/she has of his/her body and health, and society and the expectations society projects on medicine.