Guillaume-Marie-André Ferrus (2 September 1784 – 23 March 1861) was a French

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

born in Château-Queyras, near

Briançon Briançon (, ) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an a ...

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population ...

. He was a student of

Philippe Pinel Philippe Pinel (; 20 April 1745 – 25 October 1826) was a French physician, precursor of psychiatry and incidentally a zoologist. He was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of ps ...

(1745–1826), and for much of his career was associated with the Bicêtre Hospital in a suburb of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He was one of the founders of Société Médico-Psychologique, and was its first president (1852–53). In 1835 he was appointed inspector-general of mental institutions. With Pinel and

Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol (3 February 1772 – 12 December 1840) was a French psychiatrist. Early life and education Born and raised in Toulouse, Esquirol completed his education at Montpellier. He came to Paris in 1799 where he worked a ...

(1772–1840), Ferrus was a major force regarding reform of insane asylums in early and mid-19th century France. He founded ''La Ferme Sainte-Anne'', which was an innovative agricultural project designed as work therapy for mental patients. Ferrus believed that the vast majority of mental illnesses were due to a

physical disorder Physical disorder, as a medical term, is poorly defined, and typically used in contrast to a mental disorder or a genetic disorder. The term mental disorder is heavily used in psychiatric medicine, and is defined in some psychiatric medicine t ...

, even if the problem was not anatomically apparent. This viewpoint led to bitter disputes with physicians such as

François Leuret François Leuret (29 December 1797 – 5 January 1851) was a French anatomist and psychiatrist who was a native of Nancy. He studied medicine under Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol (1772–1840), and was later chief physician at the Bicêtre ...

(1797–1851), who maintained that somatic disorders were only occasionally the cause of mental illness.

Written works

* ''Des prisonniers, de l'emprisonnement et des prisons'' (1850).
Arobase Livres

References

Inheriting Madness: Professionalization and Psychiatric Knowledge in 19th Century France French psychiatrists 1784 births 1861 deaths People from Hautes-Alpes {{France-psychiatrist-stub

See also

Written works

References