Phénomènes psychogéniques collectifs et lieux de travail: Le cas particulier de l’hôpital

Abstract

Mass psychogenic phenomena can affect adults within their working community in a primitive way. It appears that people working in hospitals are exceptionally affected by these phenomena even if they are daily exposed to contagious risks. On the other hand, two French examples show that a hospital is a fertile breeding ground for the development of the sick building syndrome. This syndrome, in its epidemic form and beyond the environmental factors triggering it, appears as a variant of the same collective psychogenetic phenomenon and sick building syndrome is a politically correct way to designate it. The authors present social reasons playing a role in the diffusion of these phenomena.