Joseph Guislain

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Statue of Joseph Guislain in Ghent

Joseph Guislain (born February 2, 1797 in Ghent ; † April 1, 1860 there ) was a Belgian psychiatrist . He reformed the hospital system and the legislation in line with modern psychiatry.

Education and career

Joseph Guislain attended the École de Médecine and was one of the first students at Ghent University . In 1819 he completed his studies with a doctorate. In 1828 he became director of the city of Ghent's mental institutions. In 1835 he was appointed full professor at Ghent University. In 1841 Guislain took over the chairmanship of a committee designed to improve the situation in Belgian psychiatric institutions.

Services

As early as 1829 in Ghent, Joseph Guislain drafted reforming internal regulations for the humane treatment of patients. It was an expression of his conviction that the insane are not personally responsible for their illness, but should be treated just like the physically ill. From 1835 he gave lectures on physiology , psychology and hygiene . He was also politically active for the rights of the mentally ill. The proposals made during his political activity led to a change in the law in 1850. In 1852 the model establishment Hospice Guislain was founded in Ghent .

Guislain introduced bed treatment for the mentally ill in Ghent in 1852. His intention was to promote healing in cases of melancholy. In these cases, he considered physical rest to be sensible and expedient for mental calming. As a rule, distraction and distraction were advised to these patients in order to dissuade them from their sad thoughts. In Germany, bed treatment was introduced by Ludwig Meyer (1827–1900) in Göttingen and permanently by Clemens Neisser (1862–1940) in Leubus , and practiced in Switzerland by Paul Dubois (1848–1918). It gave the institution the character of a hospital and not that of a penal institution through its widely used cellular character.

Guislain represented the idea of unitary psychosis and passed this thought on to Albert Zeller (1804–1877) and Wilhelm Griesinger (1817–1868). Zeller wrote foreword and footnotes to the German translation of Guislain's work Traité sur les phrénopathies (1833). Guislain can be seen as an early representative of university psychiatry.

Works

Guislain's publications include:

  • Traité sur l'aliénation mental . (1826)
  • Traité sur les phrénopathies . (1833)
  • Leçons orales sur les phrénopathies . (1852)
  • Dr. Guislain Museum, former psychiatric hospital, built in 1857.
  • Psychiatric Hospital Dr. Guislain.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Degkwitz, Rudolf et al. (Ed.): Mentally ill . Introduction to Psychiatry for Clinical Study. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-541-09911-9 ; (a) Re. “Vita”: page 464; (b) Re. “Bed treatment”: page 297 f.
  2. ^ A b Dörner, Klaus : Citizens and Irre . On the social history and sociology of science in psychiatry. (1969) Fischer Taschenbuch, Bücher des Wissens, Frankfurt / M 1975, ISBN 3-436-02101-6 ; Pages 178, 297, 324

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Guislain, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian psychiatrist
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Ghent
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1860
Place of death Ghent