John Libbey Eurotext




The formation of the concept of mental perversion in the 19th century in France
l'Information Psychiatrique. Volume 88, Number 1, 39-49, Janvier 2012, Histoire de la psychiatrie
Résumé Texte intégral
Author(s) : Claude-Olivier Doron
Summary : In this article, we assess the emergence of the psychiatric concept of “perversion” in the 19th century. We focus on two points. First, despite its common usage, the psychiatric concept of perversion should not be based on the theologico-moral notion of “perverse” but from a medical notion of “perversion”, which refers to the alteration of humours and then the qualitative alterations of instincts. We analyse how the clinical knowledge of the various qualitative deviations of instincts has developed within psychiatric knowledge. Second, we show that, in contrast, the concept of “perversion” has offered the psychiatrists a way of getting inside the medicolegal field and to deal with the juridico-moral concept of “perversity”, a concept that became decisive in penal practices after 1820. We evaluate this opposition between “perversity” and “perversion” and show how the “constitutional pervert” eventually emerged in the 1860s.
Keywords : perversion, 19th century, concept, deviance, history of psychiatry, instinct, obsession, paraphilia, forensic psychiatry, sexuality, perversión, siglo XIX, concepto, desvianza, historia de la psiquiatría, instinto, obsesión, parafilia, psiquiatría médico-legal, sexualidad

The formation of the concept of mental perversion in the 19th century in France