Jean-Pierre Falret

Who was Jean-Pierre Falret?

Jean-Pierre Falret was a French psychiatrist. He was born and died in Marcilhac-sur-Célé.

In 1811 he began his medical studies in Paris, where he was inspired by the work of Philippe Pinel and Jean Étienne Dominique Esquirol. In 1819 he obtained his medical doctorate, afterwards establishing a mental institution with Félix Voisin at Vanves. In 1831 was appointed chef de l’hospice at the Salpêtrière, a position he maintained until his retirement in 1867.

In 1851 he published an article describing a condition he called la folie circulaire, of which a patient would experience cycles of manic excitement and cycles of depression. Falret's description is considered to be the earliest documented diagnosis of what today is known as a bipolar affective disorder.

Falret believed in the dualistic nature of the individual, and a separation of body and soul. He proposed that when the soul and a diseased condition interact, a phenomenon he called novum organon appeared. Accordingly, this manifestation of the novum organon created disturbances of the soul and caused mental illness. He believed that this mental condition could not be remedied by somatic treatment alone, but mainly through "psychic" moral methods.