Charles Grimbert (1885–1971) : membre de la Société médico-psychologique (1931) et psychopédiatre

Abstract

Charles Grimbert (1885–1971) was born in Caen. He did his primary and secondary education in this town. Then, he arrived at Paris and enrolled in a history degree program at the Institut Catholique de Paris (1907–1908). One year later, he reoriented himself to study medicine at the University of Paris. In 1922, he submitted his thesis entitled: the simple, generalized or elective, delay of the nervous functions. It was inspired and directed by André Collin (1879–1926) who was the founder of the psychopediatric. In his thesis, he distinguishes in the “abnormal children's group” those with a retardation from those with a simple retardation of the child's nervous and mental functions. His PhD work is focused on the development of the child or more specifically of psychopediatric. But, it is also representative of a medical and religious speech that was very present in the 19th century. Pupil of A. Collin, Grimbert is a psychopediatrician of the first time. Nevertheless, his writings contributed to the development of psychopediatrics and he assimilated this short-lived discipline to the child neuro-psychiatry. He invited his colleagues to practice early medical examinations in children. He insisted on the necessity to have an exact knowledge of the nervous development of the child because the infantile neurology ensures the essential basis of the mental prophylaxis. Therefore, he asked families and educators to encourage the creation of psychiatric consultations for children. Grimbert did not advocate an approach based on measurable responses in the professional orientation of the child like the psychologist J.-M. Lahy (1872–1943). He worked in a private practice in Paris (7^e Arr.) as soon as he became medical doctor; he will work there until his retirement. At the same time and at different moments of his professional career, he will participate in the medical-psychological examinations of minors from the Paris region who were in the prison of La Petite-Roquette. He will work in one of the Parisian consultations of child neuro-psychiatry: the Saint-Dominique dispensary located at 6 villa Saint-Jacques (Paris). During the Second World War, he worked at the Ville-Evrard psychiatric hospital (Neuilly-sur-Marne) with Roger Mignot (1874–1947) and Charles Chanès (1893–1971). At last, he will work as a physician assistant at the L’Haÿ-Les-Roses health center directed by Gaston Maillard (1876–1967). Grimbert was a member of the Society of the History of Medicine (1922) and of the Medico-Psychological Society (1931) but he published especially in journals relating to catholic tradition religious than in scientific journals because he was also a member of an association of catholic doctors: the Saint-Luc, Saint-Côme, Saint-Damien Medical Society (1922). Grimbert has always defended a Christian and French education. He attached to the very early interpsychology between the family and the child while taking into account the importance of constitutions’ theory (E. Dupré). In view of the potential risk of the development of character or behavioral disorders in immigrant or adopted children, Grimbert recommended psychiatric examinations to them; he thought it was necessary to be cautious in the adoption measures as well as in the immigration projects of children. He envisaged that the psychologist would be a priest in Catholic circle. He contributed to the organization of a medical examination for priestly recruitment. We believe that he shared some Maurassian ideas; he supported Charles Maurras (1868–1952) elected at the French Academy (1938). But, he never appeared to us as an anti-Semite. To finish, Grimbert sketched the portrait of two men influenced by E. Renan (1823–1892): E. Dupré (1862–1921) and J.-M. Charcot (1825–1893) of whom he underlined their anticlericalism. And, his writings show that he is an anti-Freudian; his medical practice was infiltrated with thomistic philosophy and all psychotherapy had to be Christian for him, Devout catholic psychiatrist, he died on September 17, 1971 at his home in Paris after having devoted much of his time to religious publications, in which he has always shown a great interest.