[Multidisciplinarity in mental health : fact or fiction?]

The author is looking into the problem of multidisciplinarity in mental health : through a theoretical conception of mental disease and from a more practical point of view through the actual functionning of a treating team in mental health. He tries to develop two thesis : 1) physical or social criteria cannot define madness, it has to be studied from a psychological point of view : madness is a personal as well as a psychical fate, a difficulty in facing the different levels and crisis of existence where the physical and social factors are secondary : the specific character of mental health resides in its psychological dimension; 2) the functioning of the treating team is analyzed according to three main models : autocratic, anarchic and democratic : the concept of a treating team in mental health can only be understood if each of its members express himself in an autonomous way and according to his own competencies with regard to the public : this would protect the multidisciplinary team from the dangers of an autocratic leadership or of an anarchic functioning.