In 1894 Janet published his textbook on philosophy. By the turn of the century he had published papers on a variety of psychological topics, and had established his reputation as a clinical teacher and outstanding expert on the neuroses. By then his interest had shifted from hysterical states to 'psychasthenia', a term he coined to cover what we would now call anxiety states, phobias, and obsessional disorders. In 1898 he published Névroses et idées fixes, to be followed by Les Obsessions et la psychasthénie in 1903. Each of these was a massive work in which he developed a classification of the neuroses, together with an integrative theory which encompassed both hysteria and psychasthenia. These two books introduced, for the first time, terms and concepts such as 'dissociation', and 'narrowing of the field of consciousness', which are now in general use. Janet's distinction between hysteria and psychasthenia was directly responsible for the concepts of extroversion and introversion introduced by C. J. Jung (who attended Janet's lectures in 1902–3 and made many references to him). Similarly, Alfred Adler's emphasis on inferiority feelings was directly derived from Janet's Sentiment d'incomplétude.
In his old age, Janet continued to be active and, after the completion of his vast reconceptualization, he applied himself to the study of belief and the development of a theory of conduct. He devoted much time to the revision and preparation for publication of his lectures at the Collège de France. The lectures appeared in the form of six major books between 1928 and 1937; none of them, unfortunately, was translated into English.
Unless the English student can read French with ease, it is very difficult for him to familiarize himself with Janet's thought or even capture the flavour of his writing. The small number of Janet's works which have been translated into English are not at all representative, and in any case they, like all his books, have long been out of print. His best-known books are L'Automatisme psychologique (1892), Les Névroses (1905), The Major Symptoms of Hysteria (fifteen lectures delivered at the Harvard Medical School, 1907), Psychological Healing (trans. Eden and Cedar Paul, 2 vols., 1925), and L'Évolution de la mémoire et de la notion du temps (1929).
(Published 1987)
— Graham F. Reed
- Bibliography
- Ellenberger, H. F. (1970). The Discovery of the Unconscious. (An excellent biography of Janet with a scholarly summary of his theories appears as chapter 6.)
- Ey, H. (1968). In Wolman, B. B. (ed.), Historical Roots of Contemporary Psychology. (A brief biographical note, with a good account of Janet's work from the psychiatric viewpoint.)
- May, E. (1952). The Psychology of Pierre Janet. (An introduction to some of Janet's ideas.)
