Precursors of Psychoanalysis

It often surprises students that psychiatry - meaning the doctoring of the mind - was not invented by Sigmund Freud.  Psychoanalysis - a particular (and very significant) brand of psychiatry - was his baby.  Psychiatrists existed before Freud, and most psychiatrists today are not Freudian.

The term psychiatry was coined by the German physician Johann Reil¹ in 1808, and would slowly replace the older term "alienist."  The new respect signalled by the new name was based on some significant improvements in the care of the mentally ill in the second half of the 1700's.

There are three people I would like to pay my respects to as important precursors to psychoanalysis:  Franz Anton Mesmer, who discovered hypnotism; Philippe Pinel, who changed the way we thought of and treated the mentally ill; and Jean-Martin Charcot, who is often considered the father of neurology.