Jean-Baptiste Pussin
Encyclopedia
Jean-Baptiste Pussin was a hospital superintendent who, along with his wife and colleague Marguerite, is recognized as having established more humane treatment of patients with mental disorders. They helped physician Philippe Pinel
appreciate and implement their approach which, together with similar initiatives in various countries, became known as moral treatment
.
, France, where he worked as a tanner
.
In 1771 after being successfully treated for scrofula
(tuberculosis
of the neck) at Bicêtre Hospital, Pussin was recruited as a member of the hospital staff. In 1784 he attained the position of superintendent of the mental ward, and from 1786 was assisted there by his wife Marguerite.
Pussin advocated humane treatment, engaged in psychologically-based work with patients, and maintained records regarding his empirical observations and therapeutic proposals. In 1793 he was visited at the Bicêtre by physician Philippe Pinel
(1745-1826), who had just started work at the hospital. Pinel was impressed by Pussin's humane treatment of patients and the positive results he had achieved.
In 1797, after Pinel had left, Pussin instituted a reform that permanently banned the use of all chains to restrain patients. Straitjackets continued to be used. Not long after Pinel was assigned to the Salpêtrière Hospital, he arranged to have Pussin move there with him, as a special assistant. Chains were then banned there also.
In 1801 Pinel published his Treatise on Insanity, which describes their work. In 1809, in the second edition of the Treatise on Insanity, Pinel reports Pussin’s initiative to ban the use of chains.
Jean Baptiste Pussin died in 1811.
. Pinel states that Jean-Baptiste Pussin often defined the psychological approach to be used, because "he lived amongst the insane night and day, studied their ways, their character, and their tastes, the course of their derangements, knows when to be benevolent, when to be an imposing figure...", allowing him to know the individuals more than a physician could by making his rounds.
Pinel describes a case where Jean-Baptiste Pussin "perceived the beginning of a favorable change; wishing to hasten the recovery, he began a series of conversations with the patient in his room, coming gradually to the subject of his delusion. “If you are king,” he said to him, “how come you cannot bring your detention to an end, and why are you mixed up with all these lunatics?” Returning on subsequent days, he continued to talk with him, in benevolent and friendly fashion; he made him see, little by little, the ridiculousness of his pretensions, showed him another patient who had been long convinced of his supreme power and thereby became an object of derision. Shaken by these remarks, he began to question his title of sovereign, and began to recognize his ideas as chimera".
Pinel admires the skill of Marguerite Pussin, who was able to alter "the convictions of a man whose life was endangered by his delusional and infuriated insistence on abstaining from any food. Fearlessly she hops and dances, makes joking remarks, until he smiles, and in his lighter mood he accepts nourishment from her".
Philippe Pinel
Philippe Pinel was a French physician who was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of psychiatric patients, referred to today as moral therapy...
appreciate and implement their approach which, together with similar initiatives in various countries, became known as moral treatment
Moral treatment
Moral treatment was an approach to mental disorder based on humane psychosocial care or moral discipline that emerged in the 18th century and came to the fore for much of the 19th century, deriving partly from psychiatry or psychology and partly from religious or moral concerns...
.
Events
Jean-Baptiste was born in 1746 in Lons-le-SaunierLons-le-Saunier
Lons-le-Saunier is a commune and capital of the Jura department in eastern France.-Geography:The town is in the heart of the Revermont region, at the foot of the "premier plateau" of the Jura massif...
, France, where he worked as a tanner
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
.
In 1771 after being successfully treated for scrofula
Scrofula
Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis refers to a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis. It was previously known as "scrofula".-The disease:...
(tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
of the neck) at Bicêtre Hospital, Pussin was recruited as a member of the hospital staff. In 1784 he attained the position of superintendent of the mental ward, and from 1786 was assisted there by his wife Marguerite.
Pussin advocated humane treatment, engaged in psychologically-based work with patients, and maintained records regarding his empirical observations and therapeutic proposals. In 1793 he was visited at the Bicêtre by physician Philippe Pinel
Philippe Pinel
Philippe Pinel was a French physician who was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of psychiatric patients, referred to today as moral therapy...
(1745-1826), who had just started work at the hospital. Pinel was impressed by Pussin's humane treatment of patients and the positive results he had achieved.
In 1797, after Pinel had left, Pussin instituted a reform that permanently banned the use of all chains to restrain patients. Straitjackets continued to be used. Not long after Pinel was assigned to the Salpêtrière Hospital, he arranged to have Pussin move there with him, as a special assistant. Chains were then banned there also.
In 1801 Pinel published his Treatise on Insanity, which describes their work. In 1809, in the second edition of the Treatise on Insanity, Pinel reports Pussin’s initiative to ban the use of chains.
Jean Baptiste Pussin died in 1811.
Clinical approach
In Pinel's 1801 Treatise on Insanity, he acknowledges his indebtedness to Jean-Baptiste and Marguerite Pussin and their pioneering contributions to psychiatryPsychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
. Pinel states that Jean-Baptiste Pussin often defined the psychological approach to be used, because "he lived amongst the insane night and day, studied their ways, their character, and their tastes, the course of their derangements, knows when to be benevolent, when to be an imposing figure...", allowing him to know the individuals more than a physician could by making his rounds.
Pinel describes a case where Jean-Baptiste Pussin "perceived the beginning of a favorable change; wishing to hasten the recovery, he began a series of conversations with the patient in his room, coming gradually to the subject of his delusion. “If you are king,” he said to him, “how come you cannot bring your detention to an end, and why are you mixed up with all these lunatics?” Returning on subsequent days, he continued to talk with him, in benevolent and friendly fashion; he made him see, little by little, the ridiculousness of his pretensions, showed him another patient who had been long convinced of his supreme power and thereby became an object of derision. Shaken by these remarks, he began to question his title of sovereign, and began to recognize his ideas as chimera".
Pinel admires the skill of Marguerite Pussin, who was able to alter "the convictions of a man whose life was endangered by his delusional and infuriated insistence on abstaining from any food. Fearlessly she hops and dances, makes joking remarks, until he smiles, and in his lighter mood he accepts nourishment from her".