Constantin Enăchescu, PhD in psychology and medicine and primary psychiatrist, was a professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences at the University of Bucharest and the Ovidius University of Constanta. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest in 1961. He presented his doctoral thesis in medical sciences in 1972 in Bucharest. He became a researcher at the Institute of Neurology and Psychiatry in Bucharest. As a professor he taught several subjects including psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, psychosexology, psychohygiene and mental health, psychopathology, and medical psychology. As a researcher, he has conducted a vast scientific research program in the field of plastic expression of people diagnosed with mental disorders that has spanned more than five decades. The beginnings of this research program were in 1961 when Dr. C. Enachescu was a doctor at the “Dr. G. Marinescu” Psychiatric Hospital in Bucharest. The results of his work have been valued through numerous scientific articles published in the country and abroad, as well as by drafting and publishing a significant number of volumes dedicated to the plastic expression of mentally ill patients. In the foreword of the work entitled “Art and Madness. The plastic universe of the irrational” (Noi Media Print, 2006), Professor C. Enachescu reminds that: “As a doctor and psychologist, I sought to gain knowledge of the soul universe of the mentally ill through the analysis of their artworks, in order to decipher the nature and dynamics of mental disorders, the meaning of insanity and to seek the psychotherapeutic forms most suitable for restoring the balance of the human person. The encounter with the fascinating universe of psychopathological art offers openness to the interiority of the psychic alterity by “visualizing” the experiences of these patients. But, beyond the purely clinical-psychiatric dimension, psychopathological art reveals the other “side of the human”: madness as a feeling, sensitivity, imaginary, unrest, expansion or collapse, refuge or compensation, fulfillment or failure. Plastic forms, that “transfer” the object of research from the field of psychiatry to that of aesthetics.

The psychopathological art is the openness to the horizon of the human, of the person’s full knowledge and understanding in all his ontological situations through the encounter between normality and madness” (C. Enăchescu, 2006: 5). The recognition of his valuable contribution to the study of mental pathology was expressed through prestigious awards and the titles of Doctor Honoris Causa: The Romanian Academy Award (2005) and Doctor Honoris Causa: Ovidius University of Constanta (2013). Prof. Dr. Constantin Enachescu was also a member of the Romanian Psychological Association. [1] C. Enăchescu (2006). Art and Madness. The plastic universe of the irrational. București: Noi Media Print. The contribution of Professor Constantin Enachescu to the introduction of visual arts (drawing, painting, and sculpture) in the practice of diagnosis and treatment of the mentally ill at the Obregia Hospital assures him a position as an undisputed pioneer of the field in our country. Beyond hospital practice, Enachescu published valuable scientific studies, presented cases at conferences and congresses, and published monographs that are richly illustrated with works from his personal collection. Unfortunately, at the moment, we do not yet have studies of the history of science that would place the scientific activity of the great scientist in the field of knowledge of contemporary, national and international psychiatry. It is up to the current and future generations of medical historians to fill this gap and establish Constantin Enachescu’s position in the era in which he lived and worked, as well as his contribution to the initiation, systematic preservation and study of one of the most important collections of psychopathological art in Europe.

Published works: Elements of projective psychology (1973), The plastic expression of personality (1975), The psychology of pathoplastic activity (1977), Socrates (1994), Neuropsychology (1996), Treatise of Mental Hygiene (Polirom, Iaşi, 2nd edition, revised and added, 2004; Third edition, revised and added, 2008), The experience of inner life and self-knowledge. From Socrates to Freud (1997), Treatise on psychoanalysis and psychotherapy (Polirom, Iaşi, 2nd edition, revised and added, 2003; The third edition, revised and added, 2007), Treatise of psychosexology (Polirom, Iaşi, Romania) third edition, revised and added, 2003; The fourth edition, revised and added, 2008), Treatise of psychopathology (Polirom, Iaşi, Romania). third edition, revised and added, 2005; 4th edition, revised and added, 2007), Phenomenology of madness (2003), Phenomenology of the body (2005), Treatise of scientific research theory (Polirom, Iaşi, 1st edition, 2005; 2nd edition, 2007), Yes and No. The comprehensive dialectic of soul life (2006), Art and Madness. The Plastic Universe of the irrational (2006), Treatise of moral Psychology (Polirom, Iaşi, 3rd edition, revised and added, 2008), Homo dementis. A redefinition of madness (Polirom, Iași, 2008) and Psychosomatics (Polirom, Iași, 2008).