Drawing on an analysis of the French mental health system, this essay examines four presumptions about mental health care dominant in the United States: (1) the required abolition of the hospital for psychiatric deinstitutionalization; (2) the substitutability of public and private financing; (3) the importance of a "dangerousness" criterion for involuntary commitment procedures; and (4) the need for an ever-expanding scope of care. These claims hold little weight when subjected to comparative scrutiny, and the essay closes by discussing the implications of these revelations for US mental health care policy and ethics.

中文翻译：

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心理健康神话：法国体系对美国的启示。

在对法国精神卫生系统进行分析的基础上，本文研究了关于在美国占主导地位的精神卫生保健的四个假设：（1）取消精神病院机构化所需的医院；（2）公共和私人融资的可替代性；（3）非自愿承诺程序的“危险性”标准的重要性；（4）需要不断扩大的护理范围。这些主张在进行比较审查时几乎没有任何意义，本文通过讨论这些启示对美国精神卫生政策和道德的含义来结束。