The survival of ancient medicine in modern French psychiatry

Journal/Book: Hist Psychiat. 1995; 6: Halfpenny Furze-Mill Lane, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks, United Kingdom HP8 4NR. Alpha Academic. 493-501.

Abstract: Modern French psychiatry was born at the end of the eighteenth century. This medical speciality, which was separating from general medicine, had a foundation in ancient medicine. Ancient theories died slowly bur not so surely. These strange theories will be considered useless and even dangerous by the modern reader but they enabled modem psychiatry to understand that madness existed, that it was a disease and a subject for research, So the insane person was no longer considered a criminal or possessed by the devil: he was, at last and at least, a patient.

Note: Article L Sueur, 126 Rue Grands Champs, F-75020 Paris, France

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