History of the Société Fran?aise de Neurologie: 1899-1974]

The "Société de Neurologie de Paris", started by 17 founding members all of whom with the exception of Dejerine were students of Charcot, helds its inaugural session on 6th July 1899. It became the "Société Fran?aise de Neurologie" in 1949. Its history is intertwined with that of neurology itself, to whose progress it greatly contributed through the work presented at its monthly sessions and collated in the Revue Neurologique, "the official organ for its publications". The "Réunions Neurologiques Internationales", which began in 1920, increased its prestige and widened its public. Down the years they have borne witness to the preoccupations of the day, reflecting the development of neurology and the prodigious changes that it has undergone. Born under the sign of the anatomico-clinical method, the Society has unceasingly transformed itself in keeping with the evolving science, taking on board all the latest advances in medicine and biology and their associated techniques. It has given birth to neurosurgery, clinical neurophysiology and neuroradiology. The multiplicity of new techniques governing progress in the discipline threatened to have an adverse effect on the integrity of the Society. However, it is within the context of the Society that the wide range of neurosciences can find the federating influence they need to take their place within the corpus of neurology. The history of the Society has also reflected the century through which it has lived, a century which has proved one of the most tragic in the history of the western world. It has suffered its many vicissitudes, which have been fundamental in determining the nature of its work and its sphere of influence.     

History of the Société Fran?aise de Neurologie: 1975-1999]

The history of the French Society of Neurology during the past 25 years is briefly summarised, with special emphasis on the eminent role played by some of its members: Paul Castaigne, of immense stature, and Jean Cambier and Alain Guillard who for many years acted as General Secretary before becoming President. This is followed by a report analysing the scientific work of the Society during the century. It is pointed out that certain topics, such as clinical semiology and infectious pathology, which were much studied in the past, are now largely ignored. Other topics, however, such as multiple sclerosis, vascular pathology, and degenerative pathology are more frequently studied today than in the past. Lastly, an analysis is made of the Society's current membership, from which it is apparent that a special effort will be required on the part of all members to maintain the wide scientific influence that our Society has always exerted.     

Eugène Dally (1833–1887) et les liens historiques entre la Société Médico-Psychologique et la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris

The Société Médico-Psychologique (SMP) was founded in 1852, while the Société d’Anthropologie, with the later addition “de Paris” (SAP), was founded in 1859 under the auspices of Broca. Several of its members, including some of the more eminent ones, came from the SMP. These two societies remain very active to this day.ObjectivesThe objectives of these two societies and the issues, which concerned the scientific world, are researched in the work and philosophical options of Dr. Dally (1833–1887), who was an active member and president of the two societies.Materials and methodsThe work of Eugène Dally has been compiled in the collections of the Annales Médico-Psychologiques and in the Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris.ResultsEugène Dally followed in the footsteps of his father Nicolas Dally as both physiotherapist – propagating in France the benefits of gymnastics – and polygraph. A disciple of Littré and an intransigent defender of the positivist doctrine, he was also a convinced anticlerical and he defended his ideas within these two societies which he joined the same year, at the age of 27 years. His career in the SAP was brilliant (he held its chair in ethnology) in the footsteps of Broca, of whom he was a fervent disciple. After his translation of Man's Place in Nature by Th Huxley, which allowed him to defend Darwin's ideas, he introduced the concept of transformism to France and shifted Broca's anti-evolutionist stance. He defended the close links between Man and the higher apes more consequently than Huxley, anticipating the modern works of the primatologists (Frans de Waal). At the SAP he was also a critical adversary of the extrapolations made from dubious anomalies discovered upon examining the brains of criminals with the aim of considering them ill and thus explaining their acts. His arrival in the SMP coincided with the opening, which had been agreed (in sign of goodwill to the new conservative power) to non-medical members from the fields of philosophy, law, history and even religion. His work and his interventions were those of a polemicist battling in the clan of physiologists and materialists against the spiritualists and metaphysicians. Hence he took clear-cut, violently anticlerical positions when the issue of the soul was put on the agenda. The deadlock in the debates on such subjects most likely explains the gradual abandoning of multidisciplinarity within the SMP membership. During discussions in 1863, which brought together all the leading lights of the SMP on the issue of criminal responsibility, Dally equally supported an unequivocal position, setting hardened criminals alongside the ill. Thus he defended – in a conscious manner – a theoretical position which considered social defence only.ConclusionsEugène Dally is the most committed representative of a generation of anticlerical doctors obstinately pursuing the Voltairien combat. His positivist, scientific convictions most likely met with the approval of several members of the SMP who found in him their spokesman. He can be considered to be a forerunner of the movement for social defence and his position on the close ties between Man and the higher apes has more recently proved its relevance.     

Migraine vestibulaire : critères diagnostiques. Document consensuel de la Société Bárány et de la Société internationale des céphalées

This paper presents diagnostic criteria for vestibular migraine, jointly formulated by the Committee for Classification of Vestibular Disorders of the Bárány Society and the Migraine Classification Subcommittee of the International Headache Society (IHS). The classification includes vestibular migraine and probable vestibular migraine. Vestibular migraine will appear in an appendix of the third edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) as a first step for new entities, in accordance with the usual IHS procedures. Probable vestibular migraine may be included in a later version of the ICHD, when further evidence has been accumulated. The diagnosis of vestibular migraine is based on recurrent vestibular symptoms, a history of migraine, a temporal association between vestibular symptoms and migraine symptoms and exclusion of other causes of vestibular symptoms. Symptoms that qualify for a diagnosis of vestibular migraine include various types of vertigo as well as head motion-induced dizziness with nausea. Symptoms must be of moderate or severe intensity. Duration of acute episodes is limited to a window of between 5 minutes and 72 hours.     

Gheel et la Société Médico-Psychologique : relecture d’une controverse

The controversy around the village Gheel, also known as the “village of fools”, which occurred between 1860 and 1870 to the Société Médico-Psychologique has been the subject of several analyzes at different periods of history. In these years of political turmoil, corresponding to liberal turn of the Second Empire, the leading names in French alienism compete around the mode of assistance to insane. Since the seventh century, Gheel host the insane throughout Europe, because the place is reputate to healing. From the early nineteenth century, it is subject to many reforms in order to make a real foster family care. Several psychiatrists therefore see it as a plausible alternative to asylums, increasingly overloaded. In France, the debate is particularly important. The study of the debates held in the Société Médico-Psychologique between 1860 and 1865 and published in the major journals of the day French texts reveals major issues for the discipline. These include consolidating its expertise vis-à-vis lawyers and religious in particular. This also echoes the current issues. Indeed, our period saw the emergence of the concept of experiential knowledge of users, which is proposed as a complementary and not competitive concept of medical knowledge, but this notion is contested even within the profession.     

Validation de l’Échelle Française d’Orthorexie

ObjectiveOrthorexia is a recently identified disorder that is defined by obsessive concerns about healthy eating, significantly impaired functioning, and mental suffering. An orthorexic person obsessively attaches importance to the quality of the food s/he eats. The aim of this study is to present the design and validation of the French Orthorexia Scale (FOS).MethodThe development of the FOS consists in a three-step procedure. Three assessments were made with three different samples (n₁ = 455; n₂ = 473; n₃ = 440). The first step was to collect the point of view of French participants in order to test and to improve the items created and the Likert scale for responses. Participants were invited to comment at the end of each item. The second step was to make an exploratory factor analysis to develop the structure of the questionnaire. The third step was to verify this structure through confirmatory factor analysis, internal coherence, and correlations. The questionnaires were posted online, on social networks. Participants completed the newly created scale, the Bratman Orthorexia Test, the ORTO-12-FR, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).ResultsQualitative and quantitative analyses led us to elaborate a short scale of 12 items (FOS-12) with correct psychometric properties and stable factor structure (χ² = 143; P < .001; CFI = .942; TLI = .921; SRMR = .0459; RMSEA = .0670). The internal coherence is very satisfying (α = 0.82), indicating that the scales are reliable. The validity with the other scales of orthorexia is effective, and correlations are strong and significant (r = .57; P < .001 with the BOT and r = ?.55; P < .001 with the ORTO-12-FR), which indicates that the questionnaire correctly measures what it is supposed to measure.DiscussionThe various existing orthorexia scales are open to criticism. FOS-12 aims to be complete and specific to French culture. The mixed methodology is based on the most recent criteria for orthorexia. The results obtained concerning the validation of the scale are very satisfying.ConclusionThis study presents the creation and validation of a French orthorexia questionnaire. This simple and practical tool will be available for all health professionals and researchers in psychology who are interested in this emerging pathology.     

Épidémiologie de la sclérose en plaques : la particularité française

In France, the risk of multiple sclerosis is considered medium to high risk. Several incidence and prevalence studies have been performed at regional and national levels. Prevalence is evaluated between 143 and 60 per 100 000 inhabitants. Prevalence of multiple sclerosis is higher in northeastern France. Incidence varies between 4.1 and 8.2 per 100 000 inhabitants depending on the region. In certain regions such as Lorraine, incidence among women seems to be on the rise.     

Les courants épistémologiques dans les travaux et discussions de la Société Médico-Psychologique

IntroductionThe term epistemology was first used by the Scottish metaphysician James Frederick Ferrier (1808–1864), in his book Epistemology or Theory of Knowing (1854). The generalization of its use will not occur until the end of the 19th century in the texts of English and continental philosophers and scientists, and thereafter in North America. The discussions of the members of the Société Médico-Psychologique, created in 1852, were not reflected in the Annales Médico-Psychologiques until 1853, and questions related to epistemology were then assigned to the fields of the philosophy of knowledge or the philosophy of science.MethodologyThis article is based on the approach of comparative epistemology (G.G. Granger), on an historical and clinical approach, on the critical analysis of language, and on the authors’ own research. Epistemology is “a critical study of the principles, hypotheses and results of the various sciences, intended to determine their logical (non-psychological) origin, their value, and their objective significance.”AnalysesThe authors employ the chronological score proposed by G. Lantéri-Laura by showing in parallel the evolution of the questions treated by the philosophy of science, then by epistemology. They analyze successively the impact of the philosophy of science on the Société Médico-Psychologique during the 19th century during the period of 1852–1902, then the anchoring of the epistemological tradition at the Société Médico-Psychologique due to the contribution of Pierre Marchais, and finally, the incursion of the North American approach at the beginning of the 21st century.ConclusionIt is illusory to seek a single, definitive scientific method, which is applicable in all situations, because the scientific objective does not dispense with the relationship to the concrete. For psychiatry, whatever knowledge is presented as new, problems arise from different perspectives, in different contexts, because the dynamics of the development of each discipline or sub-specialty are updated periodically.     

Sécurité de l’attachement des jeunes enfants dans une population française vulnérable

Introduction

Attachment is a long lasting emotional link established between infants and their caregivers. The quality of early relationships allows infants to safely explore their environment and contribute to the establishment of a broad range of social skills. Several intervention programs targeting infant attachment have been implemented in different contexts, showing diverse degrees of efficacy.

Les débuts de la Société Médico-Psychologique,entre philosophie et système nerveux central

French psychiatry around 1850 is characterized by the paradigm of unitary alienation (Pinel, Esquirol), the preeminence of the moral treatment, the secondary function of the brain (after the decline of the works of Georget and Bayle and of the phrenology), the development of the asylum system (distinct from general hospitals), the theoretical rivalry between sensationalism or “physiology” (Cabanis) and spiritualism or “psychology” (Maine de Biran). The founders of the Société Médico-Psychologique (Baillarger, Moreau de Tours, Brierre de Boismont) are inspired by the latter, politically conservative, beside their inquiries about the central nervous system. After a slow genesis, between 1843 and 1852, the society begins its reunions during the “authoritary” period of the 2nd Empire. They are characterized by the clinical (on monomania and hallucinations) and forensic discussions between alienists and philosophers around free will. During the decade 1860, the organic theories prevail, through hereditary degeneration (Morel), strengthened by the growth of fundamental sciences and cerebral anatomo-physiology. On the other hand, discussions on classifications and “folie raisonnante” allow the transition towards the paradigm of mental illnesses (J. Falret), later adopted in Germany by Kraepelin.     

Les discussions sur les classifications psychiatriques à la Société Médico-Psychologique (1860–2014)

The Société Médico-Psychologique has devoted in the 19th century two series of discussions during several months about psychiatric classification. In 1860–1861, the discourse of Jules Falret recommends to use the evolutive criteria rather than the psychological one (Delasiauve). It allows the transition from unitary mental alienation to several psychiatric diseases and the decline of the monomanias. The aetiological criteria of Morel are discussed. In the same way, in 1888–1889, the classification of Magnan, axed on mental degeneracy, presented by his pupil Paul Garnier, is not admitted by all. Its opponents propose symptomatic (Dagonet, Ball) or anatomic classifications (Voisin, Luys). The discussion came to nothing, but the word psychosis begins to be currently used. Only 75 years later, the Société Médico-Psychologique debates again about the nosology. Between 1966 and 2014, seven discussions, each during one day (two days in 1994), are brought by clinical innovations or by the publication of official classifications, either French, or international. In 1966, are discussed the progresses involved by psychopharmacology and statistics. In 1978, the French classification of the Inserm is compared with the ICD-9 and the DSM-III, in preparation. In 1988, the clinical applications of the DSM are discussed, but there are always communications about the French classification of delusional disorders and about the paraphrenias. In 1994, the transnosography tries to open the way from a “categorical” classification to a “dimensional” one. In 2001 and 2010, two revised versions of the CFTMEA (French Classification of Mental Disorders of Child and Adolescent) are presented. In 2014, a discussion is devoted to the DSM-5. There is an agreement since 50 years about the interest of “mixed” classifications (symptomatic, evolutive and aetiological), about the necessity to avoid too frequent revisions, to obtain a consensus and to simplify the nosology.     

La phénoménologie de langue allemande et la psychiatrie française

Aims

This work set out to search for texts in the French psychiatric literature of the 20th century referring to the phenomenological approach to psychopathology mainly developed at the time by German authors.