French psychiatry and the new woman: the case of Dr Constance Pascal, 1877–1937

Felicia Gordon (1)

1 ARU - Anglia Ruskin University

This article traces the connections between the public career and private life of Constance Pascal (1877–1937), the first woman psychiatrist in France, in the social context of the Belle Époque. Pascal, of Romanian origin, attained professional success at the cost of suppressing her personal life. Best known for her work on dementia praecox, she researched the social as well as the biological causes of mental illness. She founded one of the first ‘medical-pedagogic' institutes in France. Her monograph, Chagrins d'amour et psychoses (1935) reflects her wide cultural interests. Until recently, Pascal has been neglected by historians of psychiatry and of French women's history. Her life exemplified many of the conflicts experienced by women entering hitherto all-male professions.

Mots clés: feminism; France; history; Pascal; psychiatry; social history

Felicia Gordon. French psychiatry and the new woman: the case of Dr Constance Pascal, 1877–1937. History of Psychiatry, 2006, 17 (2), pp.159-182. ⟨10.1177/0957154X06056601⟩. ⟨hal-00570838⟩