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Objective We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to test whether anorexic subjects have difficulties in filtering out irrelevant stimuli in controlled information processing tasks. Methods ERPs from 12 anorexic patients were recorded during recognition of simple and complex body images and simple and complex geometrical shapes. Results Anorexic subjects had larger P300 amplitudes for frequent stimuli during body images and simple geometrical shape recognition tasks. Longer P300 latencies were also found in simple geometrical shape recognition tasks, although task complexity had no effect on the P300 latency and amplitude. Discussion These results are explained in terms of nonspecific hyperarousal in mental anorexia and relative inability to filter out irrelevant stimuli leading to working memory saturation. © 2003 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 33: 299–307, 2003.

International audience; Autobiographical memory in depression is characterized by an increase in general memory evocation. The aim of this study is to compare autobiographical memory in patients with a first depressive episode and in recurrent patients before and after recovery, using Williams’ and Scott’s autobiographical memory test. Our results show an increase of the number of general memories only with positive cue words in both groups of patients during the depressive episode. After clinical improvement, this specificity remains in recurrent patients who, in addition, recall more general memories for negative words. By contrast, patients with a first depressive episode are no longer different from controls. These results show both an overgeneralization and a deficit in positive memory access during the depressive episode, whatever the number of previous episodes. Moreover, recurrence chronically modifies access to emotional memories.

International audience; L'approche lexicale de la personnalité est étroitement liée aux conceptions en traits et aux approches structurales. Débutés dans les années 30 par Allport, Odbert (1936), poursuivis ensuite par Cattell (1945), ces travaux visent à identifier les principales dimensions de la personnalité et à construire un modèle descriptif conciliant exhaustivité et parcimonie. Cinquante ans, plus tard, dans les années quatre-vingt, on assiste à l'émergence d'un consensus sur une taxonomie factorielle : le modèle des « BIG FIVE » en cinq dimensions (Goldberg, 1981). Les opérationnalisations existantes en langue française sont des adaptations de tests américain (NEOPI-R ; Costa & MacCrae, 1998) ou italien (ALTER EGO ; Caprara, Barbaranelli & Borgogni., 1993). Notre objectif est ici de construire un inventaire de personnalité qui opérationnalise ce modèle directement en langue française.

International audience; La présente recherche s'intéresse à l'influence de la Désirabilité Sociale (DS) sur la mesure de la personnalité, et sur l'influence du contexte d'évaluation sur les scores en DS. Elle s'oriente autour de cinq objectifs : l'analyse de la validité d'une échelle de désirabilité sociale propre à un nouvel inventaire de personnalité, l'étude de l'effet du contexte de passation sur les items du DS36 (Tournois, J., Mesnil, F., & Kop, J-L, 2000), l'examen des liens qu'entretient cette échelle avec les facteurs de personnalité et l'analyse de l'influence de la désirabilité sociale sur ces facteurs. Cette démarche participe à l'étude de la validité de construit de notre inventaire de personnalité.

The development of the mathematics of dynamical systems now offers a rigourous framework to deal with complex phenomenon evolving with time. The possible euristic value of applying dynamical concepts to the field of psychopathology is investigated here. Three levels of applications found in the literature are reviewed: metaphoric, qualitative and quantitative. Psychopathology seems indeed a field where the concepts of dynamics can offer important tools, both theoretical and empirical. Nevetheless, specific problems should be emphasized to obtain a more profound insight in normal and pathological mental phenomenon.

International audience; This study assessed the personalities of 13 murderer schizophrenics using Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory, controlling different factors such as institution, treatment, detention or loss of liberty, and can discriminate between schizophrenic patients involved in homicide, schizophrenics with no past violent behavior, paranoiac murderers, and imprisoned murderers with no psychiatric history. Results show significantly that murderer schizophrenics had significantly higher scores on the subscale, Self-transcendence, than other groups, which suggests that Self-transcendence as measured may be an aggravating factor for schizophrenia and may be found in the personality of schizophrenic subjects who performed homicidal acts. This dimension constitutes a way and an additional element for diagnosis not available with the DSM–IV criteria. It may help understanding and predicting violent behavior among schizophrenic patients.

International audience; Depressive states are classically associated to increased sensitivity to negative events. However this hypersensitivity may not be stable in time, being absent in remission periods or further reinforced with recurrent depressive episodes, or may concern positive stimuli instead, e.g. in young depressive patients. To study the evolution of the processing of emotional information in depression we recorded late components of evoked potentials in first-episode and recurrent depressed patients before and after recovery. We used a visual attentional paradigm manipulating the processing of emotional information. Subjects first counted words with positive valence, and then words with negative valence from lists of usual words. The results showed that recurrent patients had increased P300 amplitudes for negative words selection only in negative words counting situation, while first-episode patients had decreased P300 amplitudes for positive words selection. After clinical improvement, the negative biases in recurrent patients group disappeared but P300 amplitudes of first-episode patients remained significantly low for positive words. First-episode depressed patients show a selective impairment for positive stimuli, with decreased response to pleasant stimuli, while recurrent depressive subjects show signs of hyperesthesia for negative stimuli. These results suggest that responses to emotional stimuli in word processing are related to the duration of the mood disorders.

This project aims at studying the link between personality as assessed by NEO PI-R and sensitivity to daily hassles (minor stressors), as assessed by a well-validated and population-specific scale, in a young student population. Results show a significant correlation between discomfort and frequency of minor stressors, and neuroticism. This study also highlights personality profiles as a function of high or low levels of perceived stress. Students more sensitive to minor stressors differ from less sensitive students in 8 NEO PI-R personality facets (anxiety, hunger-hostility, depression, social shyness, impulsivity, compliance, self-discipline), including the six facets characterizing neuroticism. This study establishes a clear link between personality and perception of stressful factors in the environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)

National audience; Long-term consequence when an adult with schizophrenia is living with his family could be weakening the health of the caregiver parents. That may lead them to a burden state which risk to have a negative influence on the clinical evolution of the patient (risk of relapses). Initially this risk has been evaluated from the expressed Emotion, one-dimensional concept which does not integrate other family factors; the burden concept is more global. We have elaborated a self-administration questionnaire about the daily life difficulties and the coping strategies used by the parents. The degree of concordance between three observers was calculated for having an evaluation of this strategies (Kappa coefficient between 0,61 and 0,80). The use of the questionnaire is imagined within the cares given to parents.; Les conséquences à long terme de la vie en famille d’un adulte atteint de schizophrénie pourraient être de fragiliser l’état de santé des parents. Cela peut les conduire vers un état de surcharge, ce qui risque d’influer négativement sur l’état clinique du malade (risque de rechutes). Initialement ce risque a été évalué à partir de l’émotionnalité exprimée, concept unidimensionnel qui n’intègre pas l’impact d’autres facteurs familiaux, ce dont rend mieux compte le concept de surcharge. Nous avons construit un auto-questionnaire sur les situations-problèmes de la vie quotidienne et les types de stratégies adaptatives utilisées par les parents. La fiabilité inter-juges a été calculée pour l’évaluation de ces stratégies (coefficient de Kappa entre 0,61 et 0,80). L’utilisation du questionnaire est envisagée dans le cadre des soins à apporter aux parents.

National audience; This study shows, among Science, Literature and Human Science students (second year, N: 254, mean age 20,7 ± 2,3) that there is a link between daily hassles and state of health perceived. This link to the detriment of their subjective quality of life. A self administration questionnaire was elaborated (test-group N: 60) and then validated. The sensitivity (gaussian distribution), the concurrent validity (correlation (r) on global score: General Health Questionnaire–28, 0,35; State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y, dimension: 0,45, state: 0,42 ; World Health Organisation Quality Of Life –26, -0,43), the construct validity (r: 0.82 between impediment and frequency scores), the internal consistency (Cronbach’alpha: 0.70) are correct. The main hassles are fear of missing studies (because of a lack of capacity, of time, of money…), fear of unemployment, sensitivity about own security (robbery, aggression…) and other’s pain. On the other hand, affective life is less often given as a difficulty.; Ce travail met en évidence, chez les étudiants en sciences, lettres et sciences humaines (2e année, N : 254, âge moyen : 20,7 ± 2,3), l’existence d’un lien entre les tracas quotidiens et l’état de santé perçue, cela au détriment de leur qualité de vie subjective. Un autoquestionnaire a été élaboré (groupe « test », N : 60) et ensuite validé. La sensibilité (distribution gaussienne), la validité concourante (Corrélation (r) sur le score total : Général Health Questionnaire –28, 0,35 ; State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y, trait : 0,45, état : 0,42 ; World Health Organisation Quality Of Life -26, -0,43), la validité de construction (r : 0,82 entre les scores de gêne et de fréquence) et la consistance interne (alpha de Cronbach : 0,70) sont satisfaisantes. Les principales préoccupations sont : la peur d’échouer dans les études (par manque de compétence, de temps, d’argent…), la peur du chômage, la sensibilité à la souffrance des autres et la sécurité personnelle (vol, agression…). En revanche, la vie affective est rarement citée comme étant une source de difficultés.

International audience; For the last thirty years, progress in the field of physics, known as "Chaos theory"--or more precisely: non-linear dynamical systems theory--has increased our understanding of complex systems dynamics. This framework's formalism is general enough to be applied in other domains, such as biology or psychology, where complex systems are the rule rather than the exception. Our goal is to show here that this framework can become a valuable tool in scientific fields such as neuroscience and psychiatry where objects possess natural time dependency (i.e. dynamical properties) and non-linear characteristics. The application of non-linear dynamics concepts on these topics is more precise than a loose metaphor and can throw a new light on mental functioning and dysfunctioning. A class of neural networks (recurrent neural networks) constitutes an example of the implementation of the dynamical system concept and provides models of cognitive processes (15). The state of activity of the network is represented in its state space and the time evolution of this state is a trajectory in this space. After a period of time those networks settle on an equilibrium (a kind of attractor). The strength of connections between neurons define the number and relations between those attractors. The attractors of the network are usually interpreted as "mental representations". When an initial condition is imposed to the network, the evolution towards an attractor is considered as a model of information processing (27). This information processing is not defined in a symbolic manner but is a result of the interaction between distributed elements. Several properties of dynamical models can be used to define a way where the symbolic properties emerge from physical and dynamical properties (28) and thus they can be candidates for the definition of the emergence of mental properties on the basis of neuronal dynamics (42). Nevertheless, mental properties can also be considered as the result of an underlying dynamics without explicit mention of the neuronal one (47). In that case, dynamical tools can be used to elucidate the Freudian psychodynamics (34, 35). Recurrent neuronal networks have been used to propose interpretation of several mental dysfunctions (12). For example in the case of schizophrenia, it has been proposed that troubles in the cortical pruning during development (13) may cause a decrease in neural network storage ability and lead to the creation of spurious attractors. Those attractors do not correspond to stored memories and attract a large amount of initial conditions: they were thus associated to reality distorsion observed in schizophrenia (14). Nevertheless, the behavior of these models are too simple to be directly compared with real physiological data. In fact, equilibrium attractors are hardly met in biological dynamics. More complex behaviors (such as oscillations or chaos) should thus to be taken into account. The study of chaotic behavior have lead to the development of numerical methods devoted to the analysis of complex time series (17). These methods may be used to characterise the dynamical processes at the time-scales of both the cerebral dynamics and the clinical symptoms variations. The application of these methods to physiological signals have shown that complex behaviors are related to healthy states whereas simple dynamics are related to pathology (8). These studies have thus confirmed the notion of "dynamical disease" (20, 21) which denotes pathological conditions characterised by changes in physiological rhythms. Depression has been studied within this framework (25, 32) in order to define possible changes in brain electrical rhythms related to this trouble and its evolution. It has been shown that controls' brain dynamics is more complex than depressive one and that the recovery of a complex brain activity depends on the number of previous episodes. In the case of the symptoms time evolution, several studies have demonstrated that non-linear dynamical process may be involved in the recurrence of symptoms in troubles such as manic-depressive illness (9) or schizophrenia (51). These observations can contribute to more parcimonious interpretation of the time course of these illnesses than usual theories. In the search of a relationship between brain dynamics and mental troubles, it has been shown in three depressed patients an important correlation between the characteristics of brain dynamics and the intensity of depressive mood (49). This preliminary observation is in accordance with the emergence hypothesis according which changes in neuronal dynamics should be related to changes in mental processes. We reviewed here some theoretical and experimental results related to the use of "physical" dynamical theory in the field of psychopathology. It has been argued that these applications go beyond metaphor and that they are empirically founded. Nevertheless, these studies only constitute first steps on the way of a cautious development and definition of a "dynamical paradigm" in psychopathology. The introduction of concepts from dynamics such as complexity and dynamical changes (i.e. bifurcations) permits a new perspective on function and dysfunction of the mind/brain and the time evolution of symptoms. Moreover, it offers a ground for the hypothesis of the emergence of mental properties on the basis of neuronal dynamics (42). Since this theory can help to throw light on classical problems in psychopathology, we consider that a precise examination of both its theoretical and empirical consequences is requested to define its validity on this topic.; Depuis une trentaine d’années, certains développements de la physique ont amélioré notre compréhension de la dynamique des systèmes complexes. Connues sous le nom de « Théorie du chaos » – ou plus sobrement : théorie des systèmes dynamiques non-linéaires –, ces avancées possèdent une généralité qui permet d’envisager leur utilisationdans des domaines autres que ceux dans lesquels elles ont vu le jour. Notre objectif est de montrer qu’elles peuvent devenir des outils importants dans des disciplines telles queles neurosciences et la psychiatrie où les phénomènes étudiés possèdent naturellement une inscription temporelle i.e. une dynamique. L’introduction des concepts de la dynamiquenon-linéaire dans ces disciplines dépasse la simple métaphore et peut fournir à terme un nouvel éclairage du fonctionnement mental et de ses dérèglements. À partir d’exemplestirés de la littérature, nous montrons comment ces nouveaux concepts permettent un renouvellement des façons d’envisager des problèmes classiques comme l’évolutiontemporelle des symptômes ou la relation entre le cérébral et le mental.

Depuis une trentaine d’années, certains développements de la physique ont amélioré notre compréhension de la dynamique des systèmes complexes. Connues sous le nom de « Théorie du chaos » – ou plus sobrement : théorie des systèmes dynamiques non-linéaires –, ces avancées possèdent une généralité qui permet d’envisager leur utilisation dans des domaines autres que ceux dans lesquels elles ont vu le jour. Notre objectif est de montrer qu’elles peuvent devenir des outils importants dans des disciplines telles que les neurosciences et la psychiatrie où les phénomènes étudiés possèdent naturellement une inscription temporelle i.e. une dynamique. L’introduction des concepts de la dynamique non-linéaire dans ces disciplines dépasse la simple métaphore et peut fournir à terme un nouvel éclairage du fonctionnement mental et de ses dérèglements. À partir d’exemples tirés de la littérature, nous montrons comment ces nouveaux concepts permettent un renouvellement des façons d’envisager des problèmes classiques comme l’évolution temporelle des symptômes ou la relation entre le cérébral et le mental. For the last thirty years, progress in the field of physics, known as "Chaos theory"--or more precisely: non-linear dynamical systems theory--has increased our understanding of complex systems dynamics. This framework's formalism is general enough to be applied in other domains, such as biology or psychology, where complex systems are the rule rather than the exception. Our goal is to show here that this framework can become a valuable tool in scientific fields such as neuroscience and psychiatry where objects possess natural time dependency (i.e. dynamical properties) and non-linear characteristics. The application of non-linear dynamics concepts on these topics is more precise than a loose metaphor and can throw a new light on mental functioning and dysfunctioning. A class of neural networks (recurrent neural networks) constitutes an example of the implementation of the dynamical system concept and provides models of cognitive processes (15). The state of activity of the network is represented in its state space and the time evolution of this state is a trajectory in this space. After a period of time those networks settle on an equilibrium (a kind of attractor). The strength of connections between neurons define the number and relations between those attractors. The attractors of the network are usually interpreted as "mental representations". When an initial condition is imposed to the network, the evolution towards an attractor is considered as a model of information processing (27). This information processing is not defined in a symbolic manner but is a result of the interaction between distributed elements. Several properties of dynamical models can be used to define a way where the symbolic properties emerge from physical and dynamical properties (28) and thus they can be candidates for the definition of the emergence of mental properties on the basis of neuronal dynamics (42). Nevertheless, mental properties can also be considered as the result of an underlying dynamics without explicit mention of the neuronal one (47). In that case, dynamical tools can be used to elucidate the Freudian psychodynamics (34, 35). Recurrent neuronal networks have been used to propose interpretation of several mental dysfunctions (12). For example in the case of schizophrenia, it has been proposed that troubles in the cortical pruning during development (13) may cause a decrease in neural network storage ability and lead to the creation of spurious attractors. Those attractors do not correspond to stored memories and attract a large amount of initial conditions: they were thus associated to reality distorsion observed in schizophrenia (14). Nevertheless, the behavior of these models are too simple to be directly compared with real physiological data. In fact, equilibrium attractors are hardly met in biological dynamics. More complex behaviors (such as oscillations or chaos) should thus to be taken into account. The study of chaotic behavior have lead to the development of numerical methods devoted to the analysis of complex time series (17). These methods may be used to characterise the dynamical processes at the time-scales of both the cerebral dynamics and the clinical symptoms variations. The application of these methods to physiological signals have shown that complex behaviors are related to healthy states whereas simple dynamics are related to pathology (8). These studies have thus confirmed the notion of "dynamical disease" (20, 21) which denotes pathological conditions characterised by changes in physiological rhythms. Depression has been studied within this framework (25, 32) in order to define possible changes in brain electrical rhythms related to this trouble and its evolution. It has been shown that controls' brain dynamics is more complex than depressive one and that the recovery of a complex brain activity depends on the number of previous episodes. In the case of the symptoms time evolution, several studies have demonstrated that non-linear dynamical process may be involved in the recurrence of symptoms in troubles such as manic-depressive illness (9) or schizophrenia (51). These observations can contribute to more parcimonious interpretation of the time course of these illnesses than usual theories. In the search of a relationship between brain dynamics and mental troubles, it has been shown in three depressed patients an important correlation between the characteristics of brain dynamics and the intensity of depressive mood (49). This preliminary observation is in accordance with the emergence hypothesis according which changes in neuronal dynamics should be related to changes in mental processes. We reviewed here some theoretical and experimental results related to the use of "physical" dynamical theory in the field of psychopathology. It has been argued that these applications go beyond metaphor and that they are empirically founded. Nevertheless, these studies only constitute first steps on the way of a cautious development and definition of a "dynamical paradigm" in psychopathology. The introduction of concepts from dynamics such as complexity and dynamical changes (i.e. bifurcations) permits a new perspective on function and dysfunction of the mind/brain and the time evolution of symptoms. Moreover, it offers a ground for the hypothesis of the emergence of mental properties on the basis of neuronal dynamics (42). Since this theory can help to throw light on classical problems in psychopathology, we consider that a precise examination of both its theoretical and empirical consequences is requested to define its validity on this topic. 27;3

National audience; The main purpose of these studies was to assess the organization of information processing in depressed patients. We studied the effects of several experimental conditions (signal degradation, stimulus-response compatibility and preparatory period) on event-related brain potentials (ERPs), reaction time (RT) and intervals between ERP peak latencies. According to Sandersˈmodel, these variables influence feature extraction, response choice and motor adjustment stages respectively. These stages have been studied in recurrent depressed patients and in first depressive episode patients before and after a clinical improvement. Results show an overall disorganization of the temporal architecture of information processing in depression. This organization evolves differently according to the number of previous episodes.; L’objectif de ces études était d’évaluer l’existence de déficits des opérations mentales sur la chaîne sensori-motrice au cours d’épisodes dépressifs. Trois étapes ont été étudiées chez des sujets déprimés récurrents et chez des patients présentant pour la première fois un épisode dépressif majeur. À partir de l’étude de plusieurs composantes du potentiel évoqué cognitif, nous montrons qu’il n’y a pas d’altération d’une étape en particulier, mais une modification de l’ensemble des processus mentaux au cours de l’épisode dépressif. Ces résultats mettent également en évidence une organisation des étapes de traitement évoluant en fonction de la répétition des épisodes dépressifs.

L’objectif de ce travail est de vérifier si l’effondrement des frontières transgénérationnelles et les coalitions décrits dans les familles psychotiques, continuent à exister lorsque la maladie s’est chronicisée. Nous proposons d’utiliser le dessin de famille, comme dans un travail de « sculpting », pour étudier l’organisation familiale et l’implication de patients schizophrènes chroniques dans le couple parental. Malgré une institutionnalisation depuis plus de 10 ans, les patients de cette étude continuent à se percevoir comme « gardien du couple » en fonction de leur position graphique et des liens représentés. Cette étude montre que le dessin de famille offre la possibilité d’appréhender l’univers relationnel de ces patients. Il réintroduit le symptôme dans son tissu relationnel lorsque les familles ne sont pas mobilisables et mobilise un travail « d’autocritique constructive » de la relation. This study aims to test whether transgenerational boundaries breakdown and alliances depicted in psychotic families still exist in chronic disease. We propose to use drawing of the family, as in the activity of sculpting, to study the family organization and the involvement of chronic schizophrenic patients in the parental couple. Although hospitalized for more than ten years, the patients under study still perceive themselves as the « couple keeper » according to their spatial position in the drawing of their own family and the links they traced. This work shows that the drawing of the family permit to evaluate the kind of relationship built by the subject in his/her family. The drawing locates the symptom in the relational network when families can not be mobilized and allows a positive self-criticism of the relationships. 26;1

National audience; This study aims to test whether transgenerational boundaries breakdown and alliances depicted in psychotic families still exist in chronic disease. We propose to use drawing of the family, as in the activity of sculpting, to study the family organization and the involvement of chronic schizophrenic patients in the parental couple. Although hospitalized for more than ten years, the patients under study still perceive themselves as the « couple keeper » according to their spatial position in the drawing of their own family and the links they traced. This work shows that the drawing of the family permit to evaluate the kind of relationship built by the subject in his/her family. The drawing locates the symptom in the relational network when families can not be mobilized and allows a positive self-criticism of the relationships.; L’objectif de ce travail est de vérifier si l’effondrement des frontières transgénérationnelles et les coalitions décrits dans les familles psychotiques, continuent à exister lorsque la maladie s’est chronicisée. Nous proposons d’utiliser le dessin de famille, comme dans un travail de « sculpting », pour étudier l’organisation familiale et l’implication de patients schizophrènes chroniques dans le couple parental. Malgré une institutionnalisation depuis plus de 10 ans, les patients de cette étude continuent à se percevoir comme « gardien du couple » en fonction de leur position graphique et des liens représentés. Cette étude montre que le dessin de famille offre la possibilité d’appréhender l’univers relationnel de ces patients. Il réintroduit le symptôme dans son tissu relationnel lorsque les familles ne sont pas mobilisables et mobilise un travail « d’autocritique constructive » de la relation.

National audience

The relationship between defective visual scanning and motor stereotyping in autistic children. Toward the improvement of motor stereotypy by diminishing visual overselection. Introduction: The autistic child 'overselects' some infor- mation from all the information simultaneously available. This perceptive 'overselection' is generally accompanied by motor stereotypies. It has been shown previously that there is a relationship between oculomotor activity and dyspraxia in children who were born prematurely. Objective: To test the hypothesis that there is a relation- ship between visual exploration defined in terms of over- selection and motor stereotypy in autistic children. Method: An experimental device was designed to test whether or not a change in the visual stimulation gazed at by the children could provoke a modification of stereotypic behavior. Three groups (N = 30, ten per group) participa- ted in the experiment: normal children between 3,2 and 3,5 years of age, autists (DSM IV and CARS) and men- tally retarded children (matched by PEP-R acquired age). Results: Visual stimulation provoked more stereotypic behavior in autists and mentally retarded children than in normal children (p c 0.02 and p c 0.03). Changes in the visual gazed-at stimulation modified stereotypic motor behavior in the majority of autists. However, the variability in responsiveness of the autistic group suggests the exis- tence of several different forms of autism, or an intermit- tent phenomenon in the same individual. Conclusion: It is possible to focus the reeducation on visual stimulation to reduce stereotypic motor behavior. 0 1999 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS

National audience; Bien qu'admise par tous, la dépression est encore marquée de lourds à priori : parfois considérée comme une fausse maladie, assimilée à une faiblesse de l'individu, elle est d'autres fois évoquée comme une " tare indélébile " dont on ne peut jamais tout à fait guérir. L'objectif de l'ouvrage est de modifier cette représentation sociale pour une prise en charge plus précoce et plus efficace des troubles dépressifs. A quoi reconnaît-on la dépression ? Quelles formes prend-elle aux divers âges de la vie ? Quelles sont les causes de la maladie dépressive ? Comment évaluer ses troubles et comment les soigner durablement ? Guérit-on de la dépression ? Que peut faire une famille face à la dépression de l'un de ses membres ? Comment prévenir une rechute ? Telles sont les questions auxquelles répond l'ouvrage écrit à l'attention des professionnels de la santé, médecins généralistes, infirmières et plus généralement à l'attention de tous ceux qui, professionnellement ou personnellement, sont confrontés à cette souffrance spécifique et qui auront à mener des actions conjointes sur les plans biologiques, psychologiques et environnementaux pour une réhabilitation de la personne dépressive.