title: [Mental health at the work place: for an understanding of this stake in public health].
abstract: The Western countries, mental health problems are increasing and represent one of the major causes of morbidity of the population with an annual prevalence varying from 15 to 25%. Consequences of this morbidity are more importantly felt on the working capacity of individuals. Several elements linked particularly to the evolution of the organization and working conditions in the course of the last years incriminate the workplace in explaining the origin of this new "epidemic". If there is a relative unanimity on the importance of mental health problems at work, it is not the case with the understanding of the origin of these problems and, consequently, of the strategies to put in place to counter them. Of the entire studies that have attempted to explain this phenomenon, three approaches are considered: the causalist approach, the cognitivist approach and finally, the psychodynamic approach. Even if the cognitivist approach allows the understand why some stress factors identified by the causalist approach can be pathogenic, it appears a bit reductionist by linking mental health problems at work with the failure of people's efforts of adaptation. Contrarily on the cognitivist interpretation and to individual actions which brings us to the approach to stress, the psychodynamic of work leads to a questioning of the intelligibility of the organizational origin of mental health problems at work, by analyzing the dynamic and evolutive interface between the objectives pursued by the individual, the organization and the working group.
authors.affiliation: Département de médecine soicale et préventive, Université Laval.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vézina
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D017132:Workplace
vernacular_title: La santé mentale au travail: pour une compréhension de cet enjeu de santé publique.