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Pinel – a revolutionary psychiatrist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Caoimhghin S Breathnach
Caoimhghin S Breathnach*
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, University College Dublin, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland
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Abstract

The traitement moral, or so-called moral treatment, of insanity was instituted in Paris in 1794 by Philippe Pinel (1745-1826), and the fetters were removed from patients in May-June 1797 by Jean-Baptiste Pussin (1745-1811), lay governor of the insane at the Hospice de Bicetre, and by Pinel and Pussin at the Salpetriere in 1800; the chains were replaced by straitjackets or in some cases removed completely. His contemporaries looked upon Pinel as physician, but it is as a revolutionary psychiatrist that he is revered today.

Keywords

PinelPussinEsquirolMoral treatment
Type
Historical
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , December 1994 , pp. 185 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

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