[Clinical research on violence]. / Pour une recherche clinique de la violence.

Violence and agitation are two different behaviors however not always differentiated. There are not only physical violence but also moral violence such as erotomania eventually more dangerous. There is no clear definition of violence. Research should be improved. Today there is an increase of different types of violence, such as self-inflicted violence as in suicidal behavior, rather frequently associated with alcoholism. Clinical experience is given from l'Infirmerie Psychiatrique, a forensic psychiatric emergency department.

Beyond the scale: toward a new definition of suicide?

To prevent suicide, predictability scales are not sufficiently feasible. There are too many factors and too many variations on the subject. Two surveys are presented, one on depression, the other on the attitude of psychiatrists in the evaluation of suicide risk. Perplexity emerges from those surveys, so much so, that perhaps a new definition of suicide needs to be found.

[Comparative study of the effects of sultopride and haloperidol in agitation states. 94 cases at the psychiatric infirmary of the Paris police headquarters]. / Etude comparative des effets du sultopride et de l'halopéridol dans les états d'agitation. Quatre-vingt-quatorze observations à l'Infirmerie Psychiatrique de la Préfecture de Police de Paris.

We report the results of a comparative study of sultopride and haloperidol in two groups of 46 and 48 patients. The study was single-blind at first, then double-blind. It was carried out at the psychiatric infirmary of the central police station, run according to the law of June 30th, 1938, which allows to detain patients presenting with severe agitation during 24 hours or more for observation and treatment. The target symptom is psychomotor agitation. The purpose is to make a psychiatric interview possible without suppressing all the clinical manifestations or masking the patient's personality. The efficiency of both drugs seems comparable but is better with sultopride given initially in high dosages. As its side-effects are mild and are not aggravated when dosages are increased sultopride is the choice neuroleptic for the initial treatment of psychomotor agitation in patients admitted in the specific conditions of deferred emergencies.

[Forensic psychiatry study of suicide (author's transl)]. / Etude psychiatrique legale du suicide.

The forensic study of suicide should include prevention of suicide but also discuss on a large lethal dimension. Actual researches are centered into a genuine suicidology and are oriented toward the study of determination of exact causes of death, improvement of statistics and information. Psychodynamics of suicide behaviors, discuss the concept of intentionality of death and consciousness of the act. Medical responsibility requires precisions according with the evolution of psychiatric techniques. This study will also discuss problems of traffic accidents, suicide post homicide. Ethics, agreement of care, post-traumatic compensation are also studied.