Bénédict Morel

Infobox Scientist
name = Bénédict Morel
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caption = Bénédict Morel
birth_date = November 22, 1809
birth_place = Vienna, Austria
death_date = March 30, 1873
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nationality = France
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field = psychiatry
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influences = Jean-Pierre Falret
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Bénédict Augustin Morel (November 22, 1809–March 30, 1873), was a French physician who was born in Vienna, Austria. He was an influential figure in the field of psychiatry during the mid-19th century.

He received his education in Paris, and while a student, supplemented his income by teaching English and German. In 1839 he earned his medical doctorate, and in 1841 became an assistant to psychiatrist Jean-Pierre Falret (1794–1870) at the Salpêtrière. In 1856 he became director of the mental asylum at Saint-Yon.

Morel coined the term "démence precoce" in 1853 to describe a mental disorder which initially struck males when they were teens or young adults, and eventually led to deterioration of mental functioning and disability. Austrian neurologist Arnold Pick and German psychologist Emil Kraepelin later developed the concept, calling it by the Latin name of "dementia praecox", which is now known as schizophrenia, a term coined by Swiss psychologist Eugen Bleuler in 1908.

Morel's interest in psychiatry was enhanced in the mid-1840s when he visited several mental institutions throughout Europe. In 1848 he was appointed director of the Asile d'Aliénés de Maréville at Nancy. Here he introduced reforms regarding the welfare of the mentally ill, particularly liberalization of restraining methods. At the Maréville asylum he studied the mentally handicapped, researching their family histories and examining aspects such as poverty and early physical illnesses. He also believed that external agents such as alcohol and drugs could be a factor in the course of mental development.

Morel, influenced by various pre-Darwinian theories of evolution, particularly those which attributed a powerful role to acclimation, saw mental deficiency as the end stage of a process of mental deterioration. In the 1850s, Morel developed his theory of "degeneration," concerning mental problems from early life to adulthood. In 1857, he published the "Traité des dégénérescences physiques, intellectuelles et morales de l'espèce humaine et des causes qui produisent ces variétés maladives", in which he argued that some illnesses are caused by degeneration.

Partial Bibliography:

* "Traité des maladies mentales". 2 volumes; Paris, 1852-1853; 2nd edition, 1860. (In the 2nd edition he coined the term démence-precoce to refer to mental degeneration.}
* "Le no-restraint ou de l’abolition des moyens coercitifs dans le traitement de la folie". Paris, 1861
* "Du goître et du crétinisme, étiologie, prophylaxie etc". Paris, 1864
* "De la formation des types dans les variétés dégénérées". Volume 1; Rouen, 1864

References

*cite journal
quotes = yes
last=Mahieu
first=Eduardo Luis
authorlink=
year=|month=
title= [On Morel and dementia praecox]
journal=Vertex (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
volume=15
issue=55
pages=73-5
publisher= |location = Argentina| issn = 0327-6139| pmid = 15085229
doi = 10.1267/science.040579197
bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate =
quote =
*cite journal
quotes = yes
last=Conti
first=Norberto Aldo
authorlink=
year=|month=
title= [Benedict Augustin Morel and the origin of the term dementia praecox]
journal=Vertex (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
volume=14
issue=53
pages=227-31
publisher= |location = Argentina| issn = 0327-6139| pmid = 14569313
doi = 10.1267/science.040579197
bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate =
quote =
*cite journal
quotes = yes
last=Lund
first=M
authorlink=
year=1996|month=Dec.
title=On Morel's 'épilepsie larvée: the first Danish epileptologist Frederik Hallager's opposition in 1884 against Morel's psychical epileptic equivalents
journal=Journal of the history of the neurosciences
volume=5
issue=3
pages=241-53
publisher= |location = NETHERLANDS| issn = 0964-704X| pmid = 11618744
bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate =
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External Source:

* [http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/616.html Who Named It?; Bénédict Augustin Morel]