[Isolation and protection, a contradiction and a necessity].

The association of the two terms 'isolating' and 'protecting', seems counterintuitive. The practice of isolation conjures up images of an asylum or even prison, rather than a notion of safeguarding. Isolation is defined within caregiving institutions by a vast range of practices, neither rare nor recent. It is used in a variety of departments, from psychiatric isolation to septic isolation or a form of isolation common to both: social isolation resulting from institutionalisation.