[Death or absence of the father. Its role in the genesis of psychotic process happening between 15 and 25 years].

A retrospective study of the case records of 215 patients developing an acute or chronic psychotic process between the ages of 15 and 25 years indicated that the father had died or disappeared during childhood in 25% of cases, a figure of 7% being found for a control group - a highly significant statistical difference. By contrast, there was no statistically significant difference in the disappearance of the mother between the two groups. The date of death (or disappearance) of the father occurred at three particular periods - at birth, towards the age of 5 and at 11 or 12 years. The authors' discussion concerns the convergence of the results of this statistical approach of the past history of psychotic patients with certain psychodynamic interpretations of psychosis.