The concepts developed by Ian Hacking during his lectures at the CollSge de France (2000-2006) have provided an important contribution to the debates within the field of philosophy of psychiatry. Professor at the Chair of Philosophy and History of Scientific Concepts after Michel Foucault, Hacking is the author of a reflection on the classification of mental disorders, which arises from the problem of the natural kinds. In order to explain the case studies developed in Hacking's Paris lectures, we first go back to the definition of a series of concepts, then we discuss the status of his scientific metaphors. Finally we analyze the relationship between the notions, respectively, of "transient mental illness" and "culture-bound syndrome". We emphasize that the latter derives from the Canadian transcultural psychiatry.