French clinicians unanimously reject the term ‘schizo-affective’ in favor of two specific French diagnostic categories: the ‘bouffees délirantes polymorphes, Magnan-type’ and the ‘dysthymic schizophrenias’. The present article presents the results of two recent nationwide investigations into French clinicians actual opinions and diagnostic practices in this field. It provides operational definitions based upon empirical diagnostic criteria and compares the two concepts with related concepts from o