[The reception, a prerequisite of the encounter: a political question].

The reception of a patient in psychiatry is a stage which consists of more than a single initial contact between a person suffering psychologically and a caregiver. This time can open the way to an encounter, without which a care relationship cannot be established. The reception as a paradigm of psychiatric care questions the concept of this care, at a time when caregivers cannot avoid the question of their political engagement.