JANET, PIERRE(-MARIE-FLIX)

born May 30, 1859, Paris died Feb. 24, 1947, Paris psychologist and neurologist influential in bringing about in France and the United States a connection between academic psychology and the clinical treatment of mental illnesses. He stressed psychological factors in hypnosis and contributed to the modern concept of mental and emotional disorders involving anxiety, phobias, and other abnormal behaviour. Janet's report (1882) of an unusual case of hypnosis and clairvoyance gained him the attention of neurologist Jean Charcot. As a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Paris, Janet studied automatic acts and in his thesis (1889), which went into many editions, introduced but did not amplify the concept of the unconscious. This situation engendered a later dispute with Sigmund Freud over priority. At Charcot's invitation he became director of the psychological laboratory at the largest Paris mental institution, the Salptrire Hospital (1889). There he completed his work for his M.D., which he received for the thesis L'tat mental des hystriques (1892; The Mental State of Hystericals, 1901), in which he attempted to classify forms of the hysteria neurosis. Charcot, in his introduction to the thesis, concurred with Janet's plea to unite the efforts of psychology and medicine. Appointed lecturer in psychology at the Sorbonne (1898) and professor at the Collge de France (190236), Janet was also a practicing physician specializing in nervous and mental disorders. He wrote and lectured on a wide range of subjects, including impairment of the ability to act independently, hysteria, obsession, amnesia, and personality.