[Preliminary presentation of psychopathologies : appellation contrôlée.]

Psychosocial prevention is often, and mistakenly, disparaged or approached with unwarranted familiarity. A number of factors could provide a partial explanation for this mistake: confused rea-tions to the medical model, an unfortunate association of the terms "preventive" and "community," lack of distinction between three levels of prevention, misunderstandings around the concept of risk factor, and an overly general definition of the concept of promotion. One specific fact about psychopathology is that it does not fit well into the dichotomous "before / after" appearance of symptoms. This is why the preventive field must identify its targets in terms of etiological rather than symptomological factors. Thus, for us, true prevention must include only proactive interventions meant either for neutralization of pathological influences, or for promotion of areas that are aimed at making the population healthier.