[Current forms of persistent chronic hallucinatory psychosis]

The persistency of the "Psychose Hallucinatoire Chronique" (P.H.C.) in the french psychiatric nosology can be understood through a study of the history of ideas, since the beginning of the century, about chronic delusions. Ancient authors' descriptions (Ballet, Clérambault) agree with a semiological reality often observed now. The present clinical-looking of the "P.H.C." allows to establish that: the mechanisms used by the delusion have been little altered through time, the themes taken are impregnated by late scientific discoveries and with present socio-political context, the frequency of evolution to encysted forms have increased with modern chemical therapeutics. The function of hallucinatory delusion often appears to make up for successive frustrations, sexual and affective insufficiency or sensorial isolations, and then avoids too painful suffering to the patient. To day, the attitude of psychiatrist towards hallucinated delirious patients is centred on the discovery of the personality and the biography of the patient rather than on the complete analysis of the semiology obtained in spite of reticence.