Falret, Jean-Pierre

   (1794–1870)

   Born in the south of France, Falret studied medicine first at Montpellier University, then starting in 1811 in Paris; here he drifted into the orbit of Philippe Pinel and Étienne Esquirol and began working in Esquirol’s private nervous clinic in the rue Buffon. Falret graduated with an M.D. in 1819. (In 1822, Falret and Félix-Auguste Voisin [1794–1872] founded their own private clinic in the suburb of Vanves.) In 1831, Falret landed at the Salpêtrière hospice, where he remained. Falret is known best for originating along with Baillarger the diagnosis manic-depressive illness. (See Manic-Depressive Illness: circular insanity [1850].) He was a keen advocate of institutionalization, believing that the "isolation" of mental patients from their normal milieux in treatment-oriented mental hospitals would aid their recovery.