[The practitioner defeated? Present-day outlook on hypochondria].

The hypochondriacal patient's refusal to be reassured by his doctor about a non-existent illness threatens the practitioner with failure. The authors discuss the value of hypochondriacal states for the so-called "normal" person. The ongoing trend is to consider hypochondriacal events as a sort of psychological "dampener" allowing to live out, and work through, identity changes both at a physical and a psychical level. They appear thus to be at the service of life, offering the patient the possibility to find a better psychic adaptation and the practitioner the chance to help his patient in a creative and satisfying way to find sense and meaning.