[Changes in French mental health policy]

Following psychiatry's turning point in 1960, as well as very slow progress in the establishment of a sectorial policy, these last few years have been characterized by the increased production of reports that aim to organize France's mental health policy in a coherent fashion. Meanwhile, thought on the issue has taken on a broader scope. The mental health issue is no longer limited to the structural modernization of the field of psychiatry, in the sense of remaining within traditional boundaries. From this approach arise two strategic orientations designed to let go patients and arise two strategic orientations designed to let go patients and find therapeutic responses from an institutional environment that has long kept to itself. The first orientation deals with mechanisms that are based in social support interventions, while the second focuses on integrating psychiatry in general hospitals. Faced with this bipolarization, how will psychiatric institutions fit in the overall scheme of things?