Constance Pascal

Constance Pascal (August 24, 1877 – December 21, 1937) was a Romanian-born psychiatrist who practised in France and became the first woman psychiatrist and the first women head doctor of a psychiatric hospital in France. Best known for her work on dementia praecox, she researched the social as well as the biological causes of mental illness. Pascal founded one of the first ‘medical-pedagogic’ institutes in France. Her monograph, Chagrins d'amour et psychoses, reflected her wide cultural interests.

Early life and education

Constance Pascal was born on 24 August 1877 in Pitești, a small town near Bucharest. She began her schooling in Romania, then came to France for her medical training. Pascal gained a degree in medicine from the University of Paris, one of the few universities that, at the end of the 19th century, admitted female students, including foreigners. Her thesis entitled Formes atypiques de la paralysie générale: prédominance régionales des lésions dans les méningoencéphalites diffuses (The atypical forms of general paralysis) was published in 1905 and celebrated as "both a feminine and a feminist success." Pascal remained at Maison Blanche until her death after a long illness in 1937.

Personal life

During the First World War, following a relationship with General Justin Mangin, she gave birth to Jeanne in 1916. The names of the parents are not specified in the birth certificate and Jeanne was registered as a daughter of unknown father and mother. In 1924, Pascal adopted Jeanne, who was not told the truth about her birth until adulthood.

Constance Pascal died at Neuilly-sur-Marne on 21 December 1937 of breast cancer after a long illness.