Notice biographique sur le Dr Achille Delmas (1879–1947). Première partie : débuts de carrière et principaux travaux

Abstract

Dr Achille Delmas, a psychiatrist in private practice, achieved fame between the two world wars for his work, which was an extension of Professor Ernest Dupré’s insights. He defended a view of mental illness based on the theory of “constitutions,” i.e., hereditary dispositions that persist throughout life, the most common of which is the cyclothymic constitution. He thus represented a traditionalist point of view and was an adamant opponent of psychoanalysis as well as sociology. In his book Psychologie pathologique du suicide, he argued for the essential role of mood disorders in suicide and vigorously criticized the sociological theses derived from the works of Durkheim and Halbwachs. His work deserves a renewed interest in the face of a contemporary sociologizing discourse concerning suicide that overemphasizes the role of environmental conditions – particularly those of the workplace – and that tends to deny the importance of pathological factors.