Politique et délire

The medico-philosophical study of relations between the physical and moral aspects of man developed during a period marked by major revolutionary movements from the end of the XVIIIth century to the middle of the XIXth century. The authors who published texts on delirious forms recognized as such were often influenced by the dramatic episodes of these revolutions. In Pinel's texts, there are several observations of the insane for who the delusions are directly related to political events both in content as well as in genesis. On the contrary, some of the texts of Esquirol and his students tend to indicate that revolutionary convulsions are themselves the result of a kind of collective folly and that it is participation in these movements that constitutes individual mental insanity. The idea of “to be Napoleon” spreads around during the Monarchie de Juillet following the return of the Emperor's ashes; the popular success of this ceremony had transformed the real person into a myth to which the delirious megalomaniac could identify.