Jean-Martin Charcot
French neurologist who worked at the Salpêtrière and demonstrated hysteria and hypnosis
French neurologist who taught at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, described multiple sclerosis and used hypnosis in public demonstrations of hysteria. Bernheim and others argued that the phenomena reflected suggestion.
Why this person matters
Charcot trained or taught Pierre Janet, Joseph Babinski and Sigmund Freud, and his work on hysteria shaped early ideas about psychological disorder. The dispute over his demonstrations is a standard case in the history of suggestion.
Main contributions
A neurology clinic at the Salpêtrière
He became a senior physician at the Salpêtrière in 1862 and in 1882 its first professor of diseases of the nervous system. He developed the clinical-anatomical method, linking symptoms in living patients to lesions found after death.
Describing multiple sclerosis
He is credited with early descriptions of multiple sclerosis, which he called sclérose en plaques, and of other nervous diseases.
Hysteria and hypnosis demonstrations
He studied hysteria through public hypnosis demonstrations and described a grande hystérie with distinct phases. He hypnotised patients and had them act out symptoms to show pathological states. Blanche Wittmann was his favourite subject.
Context and limits
Hippolyte Bernheim of the Nancy school argued that the phenomena Charcot demonstrated were due to suggestion, and one source notes that some patients may have been prompted to display symptoms. After his death hysteria was no longer seen as a neurological condition but as an artifact of suggestion. Charcot first held hysteria to be hereditary and neurological and late in life called it psychological. The sources read give no detailed ethical assessment of how his patients were treated.
In your introductory course
Psychological disorders.Appears in history and disorders chapters as the teacher of Freud and Janet and as a case study in hypnosis, hysteria and the effects of suggestion on observation.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 15.1. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1862
He became a senior physician at the Salpêtrière hospital.
- 1882
He was named the first professor of diseases of the nervous system.
- 1885
Sigmund Freud began studying under him, staying until 1886.
- 1887
André Brouillet's painting of a Charcot lecture with a hypnotised patient was exhibited at the Paris Salon.
Sources
- Encyclopedia.com, Jean-Martin CharcotReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wellcome Collection, etching after Brouillet's painting of Charcot demonstrating hysteriaArchive or museum. Institutional biography inspected.
- Wikipedia, Jean-Martin CharcotReference work. Reference article inspected.