[Mental illness : a challenge for our collective consciousness.]

In this article, the author, an actor and a privileged observer of psychiatry in Quebec over the past twenty-five years, outlines the development of that area. He describes the events before 1962, the after effects of the Bedard Commission and the influence of the Castonguay-Nepveu Commission on psychiatric services. Then, he analyses the growth of those services from the angle of institutionaksation, desinstitutionalisation, research and community approach. He queries the ideological theories, the bio-psychosocial approach and speaks of the patients' role in the defense of their rights, and of their families. He ends by proposing ways to improve the actual services.