[Team-cooperation and its pitfalls in psychotic states (author's transl)]

This article describes the reasons why pluriprofessional teams offer the ideal conditions for the therapy of psychotic states. Only they can reach the stability and the flexibility necessary to serve as a "container" for the fragmented ego of the patient in psychotic crises. But in this function, the team may fail. A new pathology arises, beyond the well-known "institutional neurosis". We call this pathology the "combined institutional-psychotic syndrome". Different forms of such syndromes are described. Last of all, we reflect on the consequences of these considerations for the conception of psychiatric institutions.