Psychiatry in Quebec / then and now
This text narrates the evolution, since the 1960s, of different events that marked the history of psychiatry in the French-Canadian province of Quebec. From his personal experience, the author discusses The evolution of the Département de psychiatrie de l’Université de Montréal from where were issued more than 1000 psychiatrists who shaped clinical practice and research developments worthy of mention throughout the years. The evolution of diagnostic nosology from the DSM-II, very influenced by psychoanalysis, to the DSM-5 that is more atheoretical, but that is still not based on objective data, which remains a challenge to the etiology of mental illness. The psychiatric drugs that we have learned to prescribe in the past 50 years in a more rational way thanks to a better understanding of their action mechanisms. In reality, there has been no discovery of new drug categories; rather it is the way we prescribe medication that evolved. The great adventure of the first textbook of Quebec psychiatry, which was first published in 1980, and is forthcoming in its 4th edition in 2015 in an improved and expanded format. The forthcoming version takes into consideration the developments in psychiatry. The creation of the Young Adults Clinic in 1988, providing treatment and rehabilitation to young adults in the early stages of schizophrenia, as well as psycho-educational support and information to their family members. Through the years, this clinic had a considerable acknowledgement in Quebec and other French-speaking nations.