Paul Dubois (psychotherapist)

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Paul Dubois, 1902

Paul Charles Dubois (born November 28, 1848 in La Chaux-de-Fonds , † November 4, 1918 in Bern ) was a Swiss psychotherapist and neuropathologist . He is regarded as one of the pioneers in psychotherapy .

Life

Paul Charles Dubois was born as the son of the watchmaker Charles-Ulysse Dubois and Marie-Luise, b. Geyser. His grandfather was a watchmaker. At the age of six Dubois lost his father and he was raised by two aunts. Dubois attended high school in Geneva and studied medicine at the University of Bern . In Bern, he initially also established himself as a general practitioner. From 1876 he worked at the Medical Faculty of the University of Bern in the field of physical diagnostics and therapy ( electrotherapy ). After completing his habilitation , he waited in vain for a professorship. He developed an interest in psychiatry and was influenced by the writings of Johann Christian August Heinroth (1773–1843). He was also politically active by actively promoting Switzerland's neutrality during the First World War . The "rational watch therapy" ( psychagogics ) and the proclamation of persuasive and moralizing treatment, which later reached its climax with Paul Dubois and the writings of Ottomar Rosenbach (1851–1907), can be seen as a reaction to the hypnotic and suggestive methods of psychotherapy . Joseph Jules Dejerine (1849–1917) joined him on a friendly basis in his therapeutic views as the Parisian head of the leading psychiatric clinic Salpêtrière . He also published the foreword to the publication of The Psychoneuroses in 1904. Even Freud followed him in a purely factual manner in this regard, even if he personally proved inaccessible to Dubois.

Services

Paul Dubois completed his habilitation in 1876 at the Medical Faculty in Bern for "physical diagnostics" and gave lectures there on electrodiagnostics and electrotherapy, and later on psychotherapy. In 1902 he was appointed associate professor for "Neuropathology" in Bern. From September 1 to 6, 1902, the Second International Congress for Medical Electrology and Radiology took place in Bern under the presidency of Paul Dubois. From a psychiatric point of view, Dubois developed his own theory about the psychogeny of many mental disorders at about the same time as Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and Pierre Janet (1859–1947) and grasped the importance of biography . At first he worked with suggestive methods that he had taken over from Hippolyte Bernheim (1840-1919), especially with electrification. The latter method was u. a. also practiced by George Miller Beard . In contrast to Freud, Dubois' theories aimed more at psychosomatic facts. Dubois initiated his treatments with bed rest, preferably in a comfortable hospital. This rather curative style of treatment, which also contained dietary regulations, is also reminiscent of the methods of treatment for neurasthenia . This style may have contributed to the fact that many prominent artists and politicians were among his patients. Sergej Pankejeff, the Wolfsmann psychotherapist from Freud and whom Freud later referred to Ruth Brunswick , originally intended to seek treatment from Dubois. Dubois has been shown to have helped his patients a lot, but has not found a direct successor. So there was no tradition. His psychotherapy was temporarily taken up by general practitioners who only had to meet a few requirements other than common sense. By 1910, Dubois was still the most wanted psychotherapist in Europe alongside Freud.

The rational-emotive therapy according to Albert Ellis and the cognitive depression therapy according to Aaron Beck largely correspond to the rational therapy according to Paul Charles Dubois. Elements of Dubois' approach can also be found in directive psychotherapy ( behavioral therapy ) and paradoxical intervention .

The main works are: "De l'influence de l'esprit sur le corps", 1901. In it, the author expresses his views on what he called "rational psychotherapy" (better: rational psychotherapy). It is also known as persuasion therapy . Dubois also describes this method in "Les psychonévroses et leur traitement moral", Paris 1904. The psychoneuroses can be traced back to inadequate value judgments , which are both inherent and developmental. The so-called change of label of hysteria is also described here (1904, p. 11). This is understood to mean the fact that historically conditioned clusters of the disease were assumed. Freud and Janet believed that the hysteria was decreasing.

Appreciation

Dubois is one of the authors who, in their publications, was the first to turn to psychogenic diseases in accordance with the current trends. These also include Sydenham , Cheyne , Pomme , Trotter , Whytt , Brachet, Louyer-Villermay and the aforementioned Beard . The moralizing treatment favored by Dubois in his time represents a current of re- psychiatization compared to the wave of moralizing treatment by psychics that was common before 1850. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and Pierre Janet (1859–1947) can be viewed as contemporary antipodes of Dubois become. As already said, Freud was very cautious about Dubois, while Dubois made no secret of his admiration for Freud, even if he only partially followed his theories. However, according to Erwin H. Ackerknecht, Janet "rightly pointed out somewhat maliciously" that the basic psychological principle of Dubois' therapy is suspiciously closer to Christian Science . This basic principle consists in convincing the sick person that his illness does not exist.

legacy

According to Christian Müller , Paul Dubois is a "forgotten pioneer" of psychotherapy. Essential aspects of his theories are now used in psychoeducation and in the rational-emotional behavioral therapy according to Ellis . His persuasion therapy ( rational therapy ) itself, however, was already critically received by the then authoritative psychoanalysts during its creation and is hardly in use today. Therapists who work after theirs are a rarity.

Works (selection)

  • About the pressure in the urinary bladder. Hirschfeld, Leipzig 1876 (dissertation, University of Bern, 1874).
  • De l'influence de l'esprit sur le corps: Conference faite à la salle du Grand Conseil de Berne le 28 février 1901. Masson, Paris 1901 (Schmid & Francke, Bern 1901). German translation: About the influence of the mind on the body. Francke, Bern 1905.
  • Les psychonévroses et leur traitement moral: Leçons faites à l'université de Berne. Masson, Paris 1904, with a foreword by Jules-Joseph Dégerine . New edition: L'Harmattan, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-296-04122-6 . German translation: The psychoneuroses and their psychological treatment: Lectures held at the University of Bern. Francke, Bern 1905.
  • Imagination as the cause of illness. JF Bergmann, Wiesbaden 1907 ( Borderline questions of the nervous and mental life. H. 48).
  • L'éducation de soi-même. Masson, Paris 1908. German translation: Self-education. Francke, Bern 1909.
  • Raison et sentiment: Conference faite à l'Aula de l'Université de Berne le 3 mars 1910. Francke, Bern 1910. German translation: Reason and feeling: Academic lecture held in the auditorium of the University of Bern on March 3, 1910. Francke, Bern 1910.
  • Self-education , Francke, Bern 1912 (from the French)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Müller: Dubois, Paul. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ↑ a b University of Bern: History of Neurology Bern ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.neuro-bern.ch
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Independent psychodynamic approaches: Dubois and Janet. In: Heinz Schott , Rainer Tölle : History of Psychiatry. Disease teachings, wrong turns, forms of treatment. CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-406-53555-0 , pp. 97 ff. ( Online ).
  4. ↑ a b c d Erwin H. Ackerknecht : Brief history of psychiatry. Enke, Stuttgart 3 1985, ISBN 3-432-80043-6 ; (a) Re. “Wave of reactions in the 1890s”: page 87, (b) Re. “ Symptom change ”: Page 89, footnote 8); (c) on tax office «first person describing psychogenic diseases»: page 30; (d) Re. «Criticism from Pierre Janet»: page 87.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Uwe Henrik Peters : Lexicon of Psychiatric Psychotherapy, Medical Psychology. 6th edition. Urban and Fischer, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-437-15061-6 . Stw. “Dubois, Paul-Charles”, Stw. “Dubois”: page 141 ( online ) and Stw. “Persuasion Therapy”: page 406 ( online ).
  6. ↑ Marion Sonnenmoser : International Psychotherapy Series: Russia - Psychotherapy on the move In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt . PP 7, Nov. 2008, p. 519 ( online ).
  7. ↑ Christian Müller: You have to believe in your healing! Paul Dubois (1848–1918) - A forgotten pioneer of psychotherapy. Schwabe Verlag, Basel 2001, hardcover, 192 pages, ISBN 3-7965-1590-8
  8. ↑ Schott, Heinz & Rainer Tölle: History of psychiatry, theories of diseases, wrong ways, forms of treatment. CH Beck Verlag, Munich, November 2005, 688 pages, hardback , ISBN 3406535550 , page 97 f.
personal data
SURNAME Dubois, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dubois, Paul Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss psychotherapist
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH La Chaux-de-Fonds
DATE OF DEATH November 4, 1918
Place of death Bern