Histoire de l'épidémiologie psychiatrique

Estimating, Locating, and Comparing Mental Disorders in the Second Part of the Twentieth Century: Psychiatric Epidemiology in Historical Perspective

Workshop

Organisation: Emmanuel Delille (Centre Marc Bloch, Humboldt Universität-zu-Berlin) & Samuel Lézé (IHRIM, Équipe DSM-ENS-Lyon).

Wednesday, 27 November 2019/Mercredi 27 novembre 2019

Building/Bâtiment D2 (ENS-Lyon), Room/Salle : 123

ENS-Lyon, 15 parvis René Descartes, 69342 Lyon

Psychiatric epidemiology – the study of the distribution of mental disorders within a population – emerged on the scientific scene during the second half of the 20th century. However, unlike the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis, psychiatric epidemiology has yet to be studied by historians, largely due to the fact that it was only professionalized much later. Several factors can explain the field’s relative “invisibility”: the still recent standardization of its methods, the diversity of local scientific traditions, nations’ varying public health policies, the range of different sites for observation (rural or urban studies, comparisons between neighbouring communities, insular populations, cohorts) as well as the varieties of interdisciplinary studies implemented within the scientific community (medicine, psychology, sociology, anthropology, biostatistics). These elements highlight the diversity of potential sources, and thus necessarily bring forward the question: how should one go about writing a history of this largely unrecognized field? By starting with a description of the institutional archives of large national agencies (INSERM, NIMH, etc.) and universities? By paying attention to the leading figures of the field in order to analyse international networks of psychiatric epidemiology? Or rather by piecing together the history of on-site data collection? Should the focus be on larger inquiries (Stirling County Study, Isle of Wight Studies, etc.) as case studies, or should the practice of adapting questionnaires derived from psychological studies (screening) and classic epidemiological indicators (prevalence, incidence, risk factors) to mental health issues first be examined? These questions will be central to our seminar, which will bring together researchers from the social sciences interested in the history of psychiatric epidemiology as well as the epidemiologists themselves, medical students, psychiatric doctors and psychologists, in order to exchange ideas on the subject of the historical importance of this professional field.

Programme

Morning/Matin :

9h reception of the participants/accueil des participants

9h30 Introduction : Hervé Joly (Collegium de Lyon), Emmanuel Delille, Samuel Lézé

Chair/Présidence : Élodie Giroux (Université Lyon III Jean Moulin, IRPHIL, EA 4187)

10h « The Science of Atypical Child Development: Cinema and Epidemiology in the Twentieth Century/La science du développement des enfants atypiques : Cinéma et épidémiologie au XXe siècle », Bonnie Evans (Queen Mary University of London)

10h30 « Psychiatric epidemiology in the transition from Mental Hygiene to Mental Health (1940s-1950s)/L’épidémiologie psychiatrique dans la transition de l’hygiène mentale à la santé mentale (années 1940-1950) », 

Tiago Pires Marques (Centro de Estudos Sociais, Universidade de Coimbra).

11h Coffee break/pause café

Chair/présidence : Elisabetta Basso (ENS-Lyon, Triangle)

11h30 « Interdisciplinary in the history of mental health: The Stirling County Study in Psychiatric Epidemiology/L’interdisciplinarité dans l’histoire du champ de la santé mentale : le cas de la Stirling County Study en épidémiologie psychiatrie », Emmanuel Delille (Collegium de Lyon/Centre Marc Bloch, Humboldt Universität-zu-Berlin).

12h Discussion

12h30 Lunch pause/déjeuner

Afternoon/Après-midi :

Chair/présidence : Aurélien Belot (Collegium de Lyon/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/LYSARC)

14h30 « The Tools of Psychiatric Epidemiology: Historical and Epistemological Considerations about the Means to Objectify Health and Mental Suffering into the Surveys Carried Out within the General Population/Les outils de l’épidémiologie psychiatrique : considérations historiques et épistémologiques sur les moyens d’objectiver la santé et la souffrance mentales dans des enquêtes menées en population générale », Steeves Demazeux (SPH-EA4574, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne)

15h « Preventing the “Non Infectious” Spread of Alzheimer’s Disease: The Impact of Collective Anxieties in the Historical Evolution of Scientific Definition of “Epidemic”/Prévenir la diffusion “non-infectieuse” de la maladie d’Alzheimer : l’impact des angoisses collectives dans l’évolution historique de la définition scientifique d’épidémie », Gloria Frisone (EHESS)

15h30 « The Local and the Standardized: Psychiatric Epidemiology and the World Health Organization, 1959-1970/Le local et le standardisé : l’épidémiologie psychiatrique and l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé », David J. Robertson (Princeton University)

16h Coffee break/pause-café

Chair/présidence : Samuel Lézé (IHRIM-Equipe DSM, ENS-Lyon).

16h30 Anne Lovell (CERMES, INSERM), discussant/discutante, and final 

discussion/et discussion finale

17h30 Conclusion of the workshop : Emmanuel Delille & Samuel Lézé

18h End of the workshop/fin du workshop

Contact : Emmanuel Delille (edelille@ens.fr) et Samuel Lézé (samuel.leze@ens-lyon.fr)