The care-givers, the psychiatric team and the sick.

The psychiatrie approach has been modified by the advent of community psychiatry. The maintenance of the psychotic in his natural community requires significant resources. The team approach is one which can respond to this need. The challenger to be met persist in the care of the psychotic: respect of the individuality, of the attributes of the subject, the maintenance of the affective ties of the patient. The individual approach attempts to personalize care. But psychosis is a challenge to the care-giver. By its very nature this psychopathology tends to overflow onto the life of the team, to impede its functioning and to sow confusion, thus harming all therapeutic effort. Caregivers react by disorderly activity, affective outbursts... The team must, however, take care to maintain its caregiving function. Two clinical cases will illustrate certain of the difficulties encountered.