Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:33:27.593Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Tribute to Lasègue's Description of Anorexia Nervosa (1873), with Completion of its English Translation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Walter Vandereycken  and
Ron Van Deth
Walter Vandereycken*
Affiliation:
University Psychiatric Centre, Leuvensesteenweg 517, B-3070 Kortenberg, Belgium
Ron Van Deth
Affiliation:
University of Leiden, the Netherlands
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Gull and Lasègue are usually credited with the first description of anorexia nervosa. In general, however, the work of the French neuropsychiatrist has been underestimated, and English-speaking colleagues who refer to Lasègue's writing on ‘hysterical anorexia’ almost exclusively rely on the translation of his French paper, which in 1873 appeared in a British medical journal, the same year as the original publication. However, some important passages had been omitted from the translation, and this has not previously been noted.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 157 , Issue 6 , December 1990 , pp. 902 - 908
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, A. E. (1985) Practical Comprehensive Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Anonymous (1880) Casuistik aus den Pariser Spitälern. Ueber zwei Fälle von unfreiwilligem langerem Fasten. Allgemeine Wiener Medizinische Zeitung, 25, 400–401.Google Scholar
Bazzi, F. & Donadi, G. (1964) Storia di un sintoma: il Lasègue. Rivista di Storia della Medicina, 8, 159–171.Google Scholar
Bliss, E. L. & Branch, C. H. H. (1960) Anorexia Nervosa: Its History, Psychology, and Biology. New York: Paul B. Hoeber.Google Scholar
Brumberg, J. J. (1988) Fasting Girls: The Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa as a Modern Disease. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Camus, J. & Pagniez, P. (1904) Isolement et Psychothérapie: Traitement de l'Hystérie et de la Neurasthénie Paris: Félix Alcan.Google Scholar
Corraze, J. (1971) C. Lasègue. Ecrits Psychiatriques. Toulouse: Privat.Google Scholar
Deniau, L. (1883) De l'Hystérie Gastrique (dissertation). Paris: A. Parent/A. Davy.Google Scholar
de Sèze, S. (1958) Petite histoire d'un grand signe: le signe de Lasègue. Semaine des Hôpitaux (Paris), 34, 215–217.Google ScholarPubMed
Fere, C. & Levillain, F. (1883) Apepsie hystérique (Gull), anorexic hystérique (Lasègue), anorexie nerveuse (Gull, Charcot). Progrès Médical, 11, 127–128.Google Scholar
Gull, W. W. (1874) Anorexia nervosa (apepsia hysterica, anorexia hysterica). Transactions of the Clinical Society of London, 7, 22–28.Google Scholar
Gull, W. W. (1888) Anorexia nervosa. Lancet, i, 516–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habermas, T. (1989) The psychiatric history of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: weight concerns and bulimic symptoms in early case reports. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 8, 259–273.3.0.CO;2-#>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanot, V. (1883) Notice sur le professeur Lasègue. Archives Générales de Médecine, ii, 5–37.Google Scholar
Harrison, S. I. & McDermott, C. (1972) Childhood Psychopathology. An Anthology of Basic Readings. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Kaufman, M. R. & Heiman, M. (1964) Evolution of Psychosomatic Concepts. Anorexia Nervosa: A Paradigm. New York/London: International Universities Press/Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Lasègue, C. (1873a) De l'anorexie hystérique. Archives Générales de Médecine, i, 385–403.Google Scholar
Lasègue, C. (1873b) On hysterical anorexia. Medical Times and Gazette, ii (6 September), 265–266; (27 September), 367–369.Google Scholar
Lasègue, C. (1881a) Des appétits en général et de l'appétit digestif en particulier. Gazette des Hôpitaux (Paris), 54, 10–11.Google Scholar
Lasègue, C. (1881b) Les hystériques, leur perversité, leurs mensonges. Annates Médico-Psychologiques, 64, 111–118.Google Scholar
Lasègue, C. (1884) Etudes Médicales du Professor Ch. Lasègue. Paris: Asselin.Google Scholar
Lasserre, P. (1971) Le concept d'anorexie mentale et l'histoire de la pensée psychiatrique. Psychologie Médicale, 3, 607–640.Google Scholar
Mathieu, A. & Roux, J. C. (1904) L'Inanition chez les Dyspeptiques et les Nerveux , (Part of the Encyclopédie Scientifique des Aide- Mémoire, ed. Leauté, ). Paris: Masson & Gauthier-Villars.Google Scholar
Morel, P. (1983) Dictionnaire biographique. In Nouvelle Histoire de la Psychiatrie (eds J. Postel & C. Quétel), pp. 565–735. Toulouse: Privat.Google Scholar
Ritti, A. (1885) Eloge du professeur Ch. Lasègue. Paris: Octave Doin.Google Scholar
Schadewaldt, H. (1965) Medizingeschichtliche Betrachtungen zum Anorexie-Problem. In Anorexia Nervosa (eds J. E. Meyer & H. Feldmann), pp. 1–14. Stuttgart: Georg Thieme.Google Scholar
Shorter, E. (1987) The first great increase in anorexia nervosa. Journal of Social History, 21, 69–96.Google Scholar
Skrabanek, P. (1983) Notes towards the history of anorexia nervosa. Janus, 70, 109–128.Google ScholarPubMed
Streletski, C. (1908) Essai sur Ch. Lasègue, 1816–188$ (dissertation). Paris: G. Steinheil.Google Scholar
Vandereycken, W., Kog, E. & Vanderlinden, J. (1989) The Family Approach to Eating Disorders: Assessment and Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. New York: PMA Publications.Google Scholar
Vandereycken, W., & van Deth, R. (1989) Who was the first to describe anorexia nervosa: Gull or Lasègue? Psychological Medicine, 19, 837–845.Google Scholar
van Deth, R. & Vandereycken, W. (1988) Van Vastenwonder tot Magerzucht: Anorexia Nervosa in Historisch Perspectief. Amsterdam: Boompers.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.