[Psychosomatic medicine--the future of an illusion].

This paper presents the phenomenology and the development of theories about alexithymia, a "behavioral neurosis" in psychosomatic patients, with background of the american (F. Alexander, R. Grinker and P.

[HIV infection in women. Psychological and somatic obstacle].

We consider the word "impediment" in the meaning of what compels someone, makes someone feel uncomfortable. What are the consequences/implications of seropositivity for the woman in her sexual life, in her motherhood and how does she then cope with it? The following clinical observations account for the suffering induced by seropositivity and the diversity of the processes spontaneously set by HIV-infected women in their sexual life. To answer that suffering, the commonly used psychotherapeutical approach is a palliative one.