Édouard Toulouse (10 December 1865 in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
– 19 January 1947 in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) was a French psychiatrist, journalist, and director of the literary magazine ''Demain''.
Career
As a young man, Toulouse worked for a number of newspapers in Marseille as a drama critic.
He later headed the Clinic for Mental Illness at the Paris Faculty.
Toulouse believed artistic creativity had an important role to play in psychological treatment. He considered himself a novelist, 'and said that he had come to science through literary activity'
In 1896 he conducted a survey of men of exceptional genius where he profiled writer
Émile Zola
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
and French luminaries to identify shared, explainable characteristics. Following this project, Toulouse was named the director of a modern clinic in the Parisian suburb of
Villejuif
Villejuif () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.
Name
The earliest reference to Villejuif appears in a bill signed by the Pope Callixtus II on 27 November 1119. It refers to Villa J ...
in 1898.
In 1912 he established the fortnightly literary journal ''Demain'', which covered a wide array of topics.
A number of important figures worked on the journal, including
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...
and
Jean Paulhan.
At the beginning of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Toulouse conducted a survey of asylum care in France, and looked to "transform asylums of confinement into hospitals of mental health care."
He founded the League of Hygiene and Mental Prophylaxis in December 1920
References
1865 births
1947 deaths
19th-century French physicians
French psychiatrists
Physicians from Marseille
{{France-med-bio-stub