[The Social Protection Law].

Abstract

Different levels of possible psychiatrist's mediations in Belgian legal procedures are detailed and a functional analysis of the first July 1964 Social Protection Law is proposed. The role of each participant is defined and commented. This is followed by a review of the recognized psychiatric pathology in a daily practice with confined patients in a social protection hospital. Finally, comparisons between DSM III-R diagnoses of confined patients and patients hospitalized in a local psychiatric hospital underlines the differences between these two institutions.