[Role of freedom in psychiatric theories]

All the theories of mind used in the treatment of mental illnesses are based on one or another kind of determinism. Therefore, psychiatrists are obliged to conceive the subjective free will of their patients as a psychological function that their theories do not explain. As a result of it, they encounter many difficulties in the ethical aspects of their therapeutical choices. Following the ideas of A. Pichot, F. Varela and Ph. Meire, the author proposes an autoreferential conception of the cerebral functions and its link with mind. He shows how it is possible to give a theoretical place to human free will. He indicates the clinical advantages of such a model, giving the free will of the patient a therapeutical role, and making the ethical choices of the psychiatrist easier.