Henri Baruk

Henri Baruk (born August 15, 1897 in Saint-Avé , Morbihan department , † June 14, 1999 in Saint-Maurice (Val-de-Marne) ) was a French psychiatrist and director of the Saint-Maurice mental hospital (Charenton).

life and work

He was born in Saint-Avé, where his father Jacques Baruk was also a psychiatrist and director of the Lesvellec asylum . He later worked in the same capacity in Sainte-Gemmes-sur-Loire near Angers in the Maine-et-Loire department , where Baruk practically spent his childhood in the institution. As a medic (médicine auxiliaire) in the 12th Infantry Regiment, he took part in the First World War and was awarded the Croix de guerre for his bravery . While studying medicine, he completed his practical years ("internat", "clinicat") with Henri Claude at the Sainte-Anne Clinic in Paris, and from 1932 he became chief physician at the Saint-Maurice mental hospital, better known under the name Charenton . He was also a professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Paris, where he published his widely used textbook Précis de Psychiatrie in 1950 . Other well-known textbooks were Psychoses et neuroses (first 1946) and Therapeutiques psychiatriques (first 1955). He was the original representative and sharp-tongued herald of psychiatry morals , which directly appealed to moral and philosophical-religious values. Here he was a staunch opponent of Freudian psychoanalysis - Baruk was a staunch Jew (deepened by his experiences in World War II ) and an exceptional expert on the Torah . At the same time he was also researching the effects of psychotropic drugs and experimental research, e.g. B. on catatonia , interested. Here he is the founder of the “Société Moreau de Tours” (named after a French psychiatrist who was a pioneer in the use of psychotropic drugs through research into the effects of marijuana ). In psychiatry, he was an opponent of treatment with electric shocks, irreversible surgical interventions (such as lobotomy ) and the frequent administration of psychotropic drugs such as neuroleptics and antidepressants . He also tried to counteract the tendency towards rapid incapacitation of patients. He is the author of numerous writings, including on the history of French psychiatry ( La psychiatrie française de Pinel à nos jours 1967) and the history of Jewish medicine, an area in which he was considered a great specialist. He wrote about some of his cases in Des hommes comme nous , 1976 (English Patients like us 1978). He was still treating patients when he was over 100 years old. He is buried in the family grave in Ange .

literature

• Obituary by Javier Mariategui, Revista de Neuro-Psiquiatria 2002
• Baruk Menschen wie wir , Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf 1979 (French by Robert Laffont 1975, English Patients are people like us , New York 1978)

Web links

• Literature by and about Henri Baruk in the catalog of the German National Library
• French article from page on psychiatry history
• French website on psychiatry manuals
• Another French website about Baruk