James Cowles Prichard

James Cowles Prichard was a British doctor and psychiatrist. He was the first person to use the phrase “senile dementia.”

Life

Prichard was born in 1786. His parents were Quakers. His father wanted him to work on iron but he decided to become a doctor instead. Prichard wrote a book called “Researches into the Physical History of Man”. In 1845, he was put in charge of several Insane asylums as a “Commissioner of lunacy.” Three years later, he died.

Psychiatry

Pritchard came up with the theory of Moral Insanity which said that there were some people who were sane but had no conscience. He called these people “morally insane”.