The French attempt to include the bouffée délirante in the DSM-V during 2006: a recollection in the year 2050.

i ‘ s and one of them, the first twin (Dupond) said in a low cavernous voice, ‘‘So you have read the Tintin books!’’ ‘‘Yes,’’ I said, and to win them over I added, ‘‘I used to read Asterix’s books6, too.’’ The second twin (Dupont) smiled and said, It was the autumn of 2006. That evening, I was sitting with two French twins in a French restaurant. They had called and invited me to come, explaining that they wanted to discuss my article criticizing the DSM-V, the new edition of the US system for classifying psychiatric disorders. To understand what happened that unfortunate evening, I need to explain my perspective on the events of the previous few months. France had had a difficult year with strikes, riots in the Paris suburbs, and the poor economic performance of several major French firms, including a delay in the production of a huge new Airbus plane in the attempt to defeat Boeing. In summary, it was a year of malaise in France, the culmination of three decades with the realization that neither Mitterrand nor Chirac had delivered the ‘‘Great France’’ that De Gaulle had promised2. Through some inquiries, I had come to suspect that in the prior months there had been a meeting of the French Secret Service, led by a spy who was also a psychiatrist. The French psychiatrist was annoyed by the U.S. society’s ignorance of the great French culture. Moreover, the French psychiatrist was particularly annoyed by the US psychiatrists’ ignorance of the great French psychiatric tradition. None of the US psychiatrists involved with the DSM-IV appeared to know Pinel, Bayle, Morel, Magnan3 or any of the great French psychiatrists. Moreover, this worst of crimes was going to be repeated once again in the DSM-