title: Spiritist delusions and spiritism in the nosography of French psychiatry (1850-1950).
abstract: At the turn of the twentieth century there was a wave of delusions which had a direct link to spiritism in their form and content. These so-called spiritist or mediumistic delusions were the object of detailed study, and clinicians assigned them a place in nosography, especially in France. This work of classification was carried out as a function of the convictions and paradoxes that these delusions aroused; it also made it possible to question the relationship between pathology and belief. It is therefore important to emphasize certain ideological views of psychiatry on para-normality. We observed both a reductionist discourse concerning these domains, and at the same time their utilization in the construction of psychiatric knowledge.
authors.affiliation: University of Rouen, France.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Le Maléfan
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Evrard
authors.forename: Carlos S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Alvarado
keywords: France; mediumistic delusions; metapsychics; psychiatry; spiritism; spiritist delusions