[Disease models and models of handicap in psychiatry]

Throughout psychiatric history, the handicap model has been referred to a mineral image as opposed to the vegetal image of disease. The structural model, after Freud, seeks to overcome the opposition between disease and handicap. Present day disregard for this model, especially in the United States, stems from economical and ideological reasons. The come-back of a psychopathology of "faculties" linked to the notion of deficiency and reinforced by fascination with computers, also represents the need of humankind to believe in an incorruptible soul.