{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]],"date-time":"2026-06-26T07:48:57Z","timestamp":1782460137366,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]],"date-time":"2026-06-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782172800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"name":"\u201cLaennec writing the clinic \u201d","award":["ANR-24-CE27-2197-01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ANR-24-CE27-2197-01"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Hist Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This article revisits a little-known lecture by Ren\u00e9-Th\u00e9ophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (1781\u20131826), best known as the inventor of the stethoscope, focusing instead on his reflections on mental illness\u2014what he termed vesanias. Delivered at the Coll\u00e8ge de France in 1823, the lecture predates modern psychiatry and offers a rare, nuanced view of mental disorders at the crossroads of clinical medicine, philosophy, and Enlightenment moral thought. Laennec distinguishes between five types of mental illness\u2014hallucinations, monomania, mania, dementia, and idiocy\u2014while rejecting the reductionist views of his contemporaries who sought anatomical lesions as the sole cause. His classification emphasizes gradation, subjective experience, and the blending of pathology with normal human faculties such as imagination, emotion, and belief. He critiques the dominant anatomical paradigm, notably the views of Broussais, and advocates for a moral and observational approach to mental care. His views prefigure modern biopsychosocial models and anticipate concepts such as shared psychosis and dimensional spectra in psychiatry. By refusing to isolate madness from social, cultural, or historical contexts, Laennec offers a deeply human and still-relevant vision of mental illness\u2014one that challenges us to rethink psychiatry beyond biological determinism and diagnostic rigidity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0957154x261449445","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]],"date-time":"2026-06-23T12:06:06Z","timestamp":1782216366000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Laennec and the vesanias: A crossroad of medicine, philosophy, and modern psychiatry"],"prefix":"10.1177","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4296-6981","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emmanuel","family":"Drouin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"GHICL H\u00f4pital Saint Philibert, Lomme Cedex, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_1","first-page":"93","article-title":"Laennec und die Psychiatrie","volume":"19","author":"Ackerknecht EH","year":"1962","unstructured":"Ackerknecht EH (1962) Laennec und die Psychiatrie. Gesnerus 19: 93\u2013100.","journal-title":"Gesnerus"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_3_1","volume-title":"Des causes et des signes des maladies aigu\u00ebs et chroniques","author":"Ar\u00e9t\u00e9e de Cappadoce","year":"2000","unstructured":"Ar\u00e9t\u00e9e de Cappadoce (2000) Des causes et des signes des maladies aigu\u00ebs et chroniques (trans. Laennec RTH; ed. and comm. Grmek MD). Droz."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_4_1","first-page":"510","article-title":"De l\u2019\u00e9pilepsie consid\u00e9r\u00e9e dans ses rapports avec l\u2019ali\u00e9nation mentale","volume":"9","author":"Bouchet C","year":"1825","unstructured":"Bouchet C, Cazauvieilh JB (1825\u20131826) De l\u2019\u00e9pilepsie consid\u00e9r\u00e9e dans ses rapports avec l\u2019ali\u00e9nation mentale. Archives g\u00e9n\u00e9rales de m\u00e9decine 9: 510\u2013542; 10: 5\u201350.","journal-title":"Archives g\u00e9n\u00e9rales de m\u00e9decine"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_5_1","volume-title":"Broussais et le mat\u00e9rialisme: m\u00e9decine et philosophie au XIXe si\u00e8cle","author":"Braunstein JF","year":"1986","unstructured":"Braunstein JF (1986) Broussais et le mat\u00e9rialisme: m\u00e9decine et philosophie au XIXe si\u00e8cle. Klincksieck."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3917\/rhs.702.0327"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_7_1","volume-title":"What Nostalgia Was: War, Empire, and the History of a Deadly Emotion","author":"Dodman T","year":"2018","unstructured":"Dodman T (2018) What Nostalgia Was: War, Empire, and the History of a Deadly Emotion. University of Chicago Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ahj.2022.10.076"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400864676"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_10_1","volume-title":"Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness","author":"Ehrenreich B","year":"1973","unstructured":"Ehrenreich B, English D (1973) Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness. Feminist Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_11_1","volume-title":"Des maladies mentales consid\u00e9r\u00e9es sous les rapports m\u00e9dical, hygi\u00e9nique et m\u00e9dico-l\u00e9gal","author":"Esquirol J\u00c9D","year":"1838","unstructured":"Esquirol J\u00c9D (1838) Des maladies mentales consid\u00e9r\u00e9es sous les rapports m\u00e9dical, hygi\u00e9nique et m\u00e9dico-l\u00e9gal. Bailli\u00e8re."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195065039.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_13_1","volume-title":"Electroshock: Healing Mental Illness","author":"Fink M","year":"1999","unstructured":"Fink M (1999) Electroshock: Healing Mental Illness. Oxford University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_14_1","volume-title":"Psychologie des masses et analyse du moi","author":"Freud S","year":"1921","unstructured":"Freud S (1921) Psychologie des masses et analyse du moi. Payot."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_15_1","volume-title":"Consoler et classifier. L\u2019essor de la psychiatrie fran\u00e7aise","author":"Goldstein J","year":"1997","unstructured":"Goldstein J (1997) Consoler et classifier. L\u2019essor de la psychiatrie fran\u00e7aise. Les Emp\u00eacheurs de penser en rond."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_16_1","volume-title":"Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression","author":"Goodwin FK","year":"2007","unstructured":"Goodwin FK, Jamison KR (2007) Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression. Oxford University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9781501753435"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aab2358"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.ajp.162.7.1243"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_20_1","volume-title":"De l\u2019auscultation m\u00e9diate, ou Trait\u00e9 du diagnostic des maladies des poumons et du c\u0153ur","author":"Laennec RTH","year":"1819","unstructured":"Laennec RTH (1819) De l\u2019auscultation m\u00e9diate, ou Trait\u00e9 du diagnostic des maladies des poumons et du c\u0153ur. Brosson and Chaud\u00e9."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400852161"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_22_1","volume-title":"Psychologie des foules","author":"Le Bon G","year":"1895","unstructured":"Le Bon G (1895) Psychologie des foules. F\u00e9lix Alcan."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_23_1","volume-title":"Quand les ali\u00e9nistes ouvraient les corps","author":"Luaut\u00e9 JP","year":"2020","unstructured":"Luaut\u00e9 JP (2020) Quand les ali\u00e9nistes ouvraient les corps. Glyphe."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_24_1","volume-title":"L\u2019Homme qui se prenait pour Napol\u00e9on: Pour une histoire politique de la folie","author":"Murat L","year":"2011","unstructured":"Murat L (2011) L\u2019Homme qui se prenait pour Napol\u00e9on: Pour une histoire politique de la folie. Gallimard [English trans. The Man Who Thought He Was Napoleon. University of Chicago Press, 2015.]"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(15)01121-6"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_26_1","volume-title":"Aux portes de la psychiatrie: Pinel, l\u2019Ancien et le Moderne","author":"Pigeaud J","year":"2001","unstructured":"Pigeaud J (2001) Aux portes de la psychiatrie: Pinel, l\u2019Ancien et le Moderne. Aubier."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_27_1","volume-title":"Trait\u00e9 m\u00e9dico-philosophique sur l\u2019ali\u00e9nation mentale","author":"Pinel P","year":"1801","unstructured":"Pinel P (1801) Trait\u00e9 m\u00e9dico-philosophique sur l\u2019ali\u00e9nation mentale. Richard."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_28_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/ajp.2006.163.11.1905"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_29_1","volume-title":"The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830\u20131980","author":"Showalter E","year":"1987","unstructured":"Showalter E (1987) The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830\u20131980. Virago."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_30_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0033291708003814"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_31_1","volume-title":"Comprendre et soigner: Philippe Pinel (1745\u20131826) et la m\u00e9decine de l\u2019esprit","author":"Weiner DB","year":"1999","unstructured":"Weiner DB (1999) Comprendre et soigner: Philippe Pinel (1745\u20131826) et la m\u00e9decine de l\u2019esprit. Fayard."},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_3_2_32_1","first-page":"125","article-title":"Laennec et l\u2019enseignement des V\u00e9sanies","volume":"27","author":"Zins-Ritter M","year":"1993","unstructured":"Zins-Ritter M (1993) Laennec et l\u2019enseignement des V\u00e9sanies. Histoire des Sciences M\u00e9dicales 27(2): 125\u2013130.","journal-title":"Histoire des Sciences M\u00e9dicales"}],"container-title":["History of Psychiatry: Madness, Science, Culture"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0957154X261449445","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0957154X261449445","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0957154X261449445","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]],"date-time":"2026-06-26T07:16:58Z","timestamp":1782458218000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0957154X261449445"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]},"references-count":31,"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0957154X261449445"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0957154x261449445","relation":{},"ISSN":["0957-154X","1740-2360"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0957-154X","type":"print"},{"value":"1740-2360","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]},"article-number":"0957154X261449445"}}