“Psychiatric failure”: no to amalgamations and demagoguery!

2023-12-06 14:53:37

Actors in public psychiatry denounce the comments of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, evoking a “psychiatric failure” following the terrorist attack of December 2. The term “failure” used is both improper and disqualifying and in no way corresponds to the situation in question. Communiqué.

The amalgamation between psychiatric disorders and criminological dangerousness linked to a process of radicalization is a shortcut which testifies, to say the least, to a misunderstanding of our discipline or even to a demagogic process aimed at placing the responsibility for this transition to the act and this even before a complete analysis of the situation and the contextual factors could be made and the experts had ruled on the actual presence of psychiatric disorders in the perpetrator at the time of the facts.

The radicalization of an individual very rarely takes place in a delusional context that can disappear with treatment. Furthermore, a citizen living with a psychiatric disorder can be stabilized in terms of his mental health and be radicalized, just as a citizen without a psychiatric disorder can be radicalized.

Care without consent is regulated by law and must be justified by psychiatric symptoms; injunctions for care within the framework of socio-judicial monitoring pronounced as a sentence by the criminal court or the assize court are regulated with a duration and a regulatory framework that guarantees respect for individual freedoms under the rule of law.

In a process as complex as that of preventing risk factors for acting out among radicalized subjects, it is necessary that police, social and medical approaches be combined while respecting each person’s place. Putting the responsibility on an actor, handing him over to the media fury, does not honor the Minister of the Interior and does not advance democratic dialogue.

Marie-José CORTES, President of the Union of Hospital Psychiatrists (SPH)
Laurent BEAUMONT, President of the National Association of Quality Managers in PSYchiatry (ANRQPSY)
Olivier COTTENCIN, President of the National University College of Addictology Teaching (CUNEA)
Bruno FALISSARD, President of the French Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Disciplines
Associates (SFPEADA)
Claude FINKELSTEIN, President of the National Federation of Psychiatry User Associations (FNAPSY)
Priscille GERARDIN, President of the National Council of Universities of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CNU)
Pascale GIRAVALLI, President of the Association of Psychiatry Sectors in Prison Environments (ASPMP)
Jean-Paul LANQUETIN, Honorary President of the Association for the Development of Healthcare Research in
Psychiatrie (ADRPsy)
Christophe LIBERT, President of the Association of Infant-Juvenile Psychiatrists in the health and medico-social sector (API)
Pascal MARIOTTI, President of the Association of Public Mental Health Service Establishments (AdESM)
Anne-Hélène MONCANY, President of the French Federation of Resource Centers for Workers with
Perpetrators of Sexual Violence (FFCRIAVS)
Gladys MONDIERE, President of the French Federation of Psychologists and Psychology (FFPP)
Maeva MUSSO, President of the Association of Young Psychiatrists and Young Addictologists (AJPJA)
Annick PERRIN-NIQUET, President of the Study Committee for Nursing Training and Practices in Psychiatry (CEFIPsy)
Marie-Noëlle PETIT, President of the National Association of Psychiatrists Presidents and Vice-Presidents of
Medical Commissions of Hospital Center Establishments (ANPCME)
David PINEY, Acting President of the National Conference of Presidents of Medical Commissions
of Establishment of Hospital Centers
Charles-Olivier PONS, President of the Union Syndicale de la Psychiatrie (USP)
Marie-Jeanne RICHARD, President of the National Union of Families and Friends of sick and/or disabled people
psychic (UNAFAM)
Christophe SCHMITT, President of the National Conference of Presidents of Establishment Medical Commissions
of Specialized Hospital Centers
Norbert SKURNIK, Acting President of the Inter-Union for the Defense of Public Psychiatry (IDEPP)
Olivier TELLIER, President of the French Association of Units for Difficult Patients (UMD)
Pierre THOMAS, President of the National College of Universities of Adult Psychiatry (CNU)
Michel TRIANTAFYLLOU, President of the Union of Public Practice Psychiatrists (SPEP)
Pierre VIDAILHET, President of the National College of University Psychiatrists (CNUP)