Providentia

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Is There a Jerusalem Syndrome?
2008-02-14 14:00:00
Since at least the 1930s, mental health professionals in the city of Jerusalem have attested to the existence of a peculiar syndrome affecting some first-time visitors. Referred to as the Jerusalem syndrome, it is described as an intense religious psychosis characterized by delusions, obsessive ideas, or other psychotic symptoms that can affect first-time visitors to the city and can quickly resolve in a matter of weeks. There is a suggested typology of Jerusalem syndrome episodes based on whether there is a preexisting psychiatric history or idiosyncratic ideation involved. Case histories that have been reported include one individual, who was observed to be dressed in a white tunic and wearing a gilded crown on his head welcomes tourists and pilgrims on their way to the Wailing Wall and proclaiming himself as King David. Being the psalmist, he held a lyre and sang psalms accompanied by occasional preaching. Another case involved a self-proclaimed "messiah" who was obser...
More About: Syndrome

Police Estimate 17,000 Victims of Honour Violence in Great Britan Yearly
2008-02-12 14:00:00
A spokesperson from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) reported that an estimated 17,000 cases of honour-related violence occur in Great Britain annually. The association also stated that figures relating to forced marriages are the "tip of the iceberg". The women and girls who are subjected to forced marriages, kidnappings, sexual assaults, beatings and even murder by relatives determined to uphold "family honour" may be up to 35 times higher than official figures suggest. Children as young as 11 have been sent abroad to be married, which has prompted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to call on British consular staff in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to take more action to identify and help British citizens believed to be the victims of forced marriages in recent years. The British Home Office is preparing action to address "honour" crimes by improving the response of police and other agencies and to encourage victims to come forward to receive needed support. New l...
More About: Violence , Victims

Tripping Out, Part II
2008-02-10 14:00:00
There is no way of doing proper justice to the full range of research into LSD that occurred during the two decades following its discovery in the 1940s although some prominent pioneers tend to stand out. One of these early pioneers was Dr. Humphry Osmond. Born in 1917 in Surrey, England, Osmond trained to become a psychiatrist and later became a Senior Registrar at a psychiatric unit at St. George's Hospital in London. With his colleague John Smithies, he began researching the effects of mescaline on the human body and became one of the early advocates for a biochemical explanation for schizophrenia. Given the strong Freudian bias among British psychiatrists during that period, Osmond's determination to continue with his research meant that he would need to leave Great Britain altogether. Answering an advertisement in the Lancet for a deputy director of psychiatry at a Canadian mental hospital in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Osmond and his family moved to Canada in 1951. Within a y...
More About: Part

Does Gender Affect Schizophrenia?
2008-02-07 14:00:00
Are there important differences in men and women suffering from schizophrenia? A paper published in a recent issue of Psychopharmacology Bulletin (2007:40) seems to suggest that there are. Women with schizophrenia tend to differ from males by having better functioning before the onset of psychotic symptoms, a later age at onset, a distinct symptom profile and better course of illness, and different structural brain abnormalities and cognitive deficits. Additionally, premenopausal women appear to have a superior response to typical antipsychotics compared to men and postmenopausal women. These gender differences appear to stem from the connection between hormonal and psychosocial factors. Estrogen in particular may play a protective role in women with schizophrenia and account for some of the gender differences observed in the disorder. Despite the potential benefit of estrogen in this population, women with schizophrenia appear to be at risk for hormonal diseases, either due to side...
More About: Gender , Schizophrenia

New Shelter for Mentally Ill Promised after Police Report
2008-02-05 14:00:00
Following the release of a hard-hitting report by the Vancouver police on the overwhelming number of calls involving the mentally ill, the province of British Columbia has announced plans to open a new treatment centre for mentally ill chronic offenders this summer. In addition, plans have also been announced to open a community court to provide an alternative to conventional sentencing. B.C. Housing Minister George Abbott stated that "There will be a secured - and secured is underlined - long-term treatment facility for the 100 to 150 mentally ill who are chronically offending. These habitual offenders will be referred to a community court and given the option of jail or treatment," In the report released on February 1, the Vancouver police announced that over thirty percent of police service calls citywide involved the mentally ill and were as high as fifty percent in some neighbourhoods. The first report of its kind in Canada, the author suggests that these numbers may be ...
More About: Police , Report , Shelter , Mentally ill , Police Report

Tripping Out, Part I
2008-02-03 14:00:00
There is a long tradition in psychology of using psychoactive substances to explore altered states of consciousness. Back in the 19th century, William James experimented with amyl nitrate, chloral hydrate and peyote to learn about mystical experiences while Sigmund Freud experimented with cocaine (and became a frequent recreational user as well). Despite the backlash against psychoactive drugs in the early years of the 20th century, new possibilities arose with advances in biochemistry. When lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was first synthesized in 1938 by the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman, he actually had no idea what he had discovered. The compound was developed as part of a research program searching for ergot alkaloid derivatives that might be useful in the treatment of migraine headaches. Aside from the "restlessness" that was observed in laboratory animals that were given LSD, no particular value was found in it and Hoffman shelved his discovery for five years. It was in 1943 w...
More About: Part

Chronic Pain in Elderly Patients
2008-01-31 14:00:00
In the November 2007 issue of the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, an article presents the result of a study examining chronic pain in depressed geriatric inpatients.  By examining the medical charts of patients who were admitted to a geriatric psychiatric unit over a two year period, 148 patients with a depressive disorder were identified. Of these depressed patients, 62% of patients were found to reports problems with chronic pain. Further analysis found that depressed older adults with chronic pain were more likely to report suicidal ideation, be diagnosed with personality disorder, have chronic care needs, and experience less total sleep time compared to depressed older adults without chronic pain. The results match those of previous studies identifying chronic pain as a possible suicide risk factor in the elderly, particularly when depression is involved.  : Chronic pain-common in depressed older adults-may influence clinical features of depression and s...
More About: Pain , Patients , Elderly

Stayner Kidnapper Dies in Prison
2008-01-29 14:00:00
Keith Eugene Parnell who became the focus of worldwide attention for the bizarre kidnapping of Stephen Stayner has died in prison at the age of 76.  Parnell kidnapped Stayner in 1972 and kept him a prisoner until Stayner escaped with another kidnapped child in 1980.  The ordeal became the subject of a television movie, "I Know My First Name Is Stephen". Parnell served five years for the double kidnapping before being released on parole. He was later sentenced to an additional sentence in 2004 following an attempted abduction of a child that prosecutors described as the "last hurrah of an aging pedophile". Stayner died in a motorcycle accident in 1989 at the age of 24. His brother, Cary, is in prison awaiting execution for the murder of four women. Click here for the link.
More About: Prison , Dies

The Professor and the Medium
2008-01-27 14:00:00
Long after her death in 1918, Eusapia Palladino continues to be remembered in spiritualist circles as one of the most remarkable mediums of all time. Born in southern Italy in 1854, there are few independent details of her early life available but she was well-established as a prominent medium by 1872. In the many seances that she conducted across Europe, she would communicate with her spirit guide, John King, and display a range of impressive physical phenomena. Levitating tables was her specialty but she could also produce spirit hands and faces, play musical instruments without using her hands, make flowers and other objects appear out of thin air, and contact the dead. She was the talk of Europe in her day and was highly sought after (despite the enormous fees that she charged). It was only natural that she drew psychic researchers across the continent including leading scientists such as Pierre and Marie Curie and Theodore Flournoy. Although she appeared to welcome attempts at ...
More About: Medium , Fess

Marrying Too Young
2008-01-24 14:00:00
Those of you who have seen UNICEF's picture of the year will remember the expression of fear on 11-year old Ghulam's face as she gazes at her 40-year old fiance, Mohammad. The practice of child marriage continues unabated in various parts of the world including Afghanistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and the Middle East. The girls (often as young as 11 and sometimes even younger) are routinely married off as part of "arrangements" made by their family and usually without their consent. Unwanted girl children are often treated as second-class citizens and are denied access to basic education or even information concerning contraception. Despite being illegal in many countries, secret illegal weddings continue and have even been carried out in Western countries. In addition to issues of basic human rights such as forced sex, child brides face horrendous medical risks including increased risk of death from childbirth (early pregnancy is a leading cause of dea...
More About: Young , Marrying

What Causes Schizophrenia?
2008-01-22 14:00:00
Given that stigma surrounding mental illness is largely shaped by popular assumptions about how mental illness is caused and treated, there is surprisingly little research investigating those assumptions in the general population. A paper presented in the January 2008 issue of Comprehensive Psychiatry shows the results of a preliminary study examining the most commonly reported causes of schizophrenia in a sample of 127 urban African Americans. The study participants were asked to endorse items from a list of 30 factors, some of which are congruent with current psychiatric views of schizophrenia, whereas others are not. The results tended to complement previous research in finding that the five most commonly reported causes were: disturbance of brain biochemistry (49.6%), drug/alcohol abuse (42.5%), hereditary factors (40.9%), brain injury (40.2%), and avoidance of problems in life. Approximately 47.9% of the participants endorsed one or more unorthodox or supernatural factors as a ...
More About: Schizophrenia

Sick Doris
2008-01-20 14:00:00
Long before Sybil and the Three Faces of Eve, there was Doris Fischer and her case is still considered a classic (although little-known these days). It was in 1910 when she first came to the attention of Walter Franklin Prince, then-rector at an Episcopal church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Prince, who was born in 1863, received degrees in theology at Yale and Drew Theological Seminary. He would go on to become a prominent psychic researcher and psychotherapist but it was the Doris Fischer case for which he was best known. When he met the twenty-one year old "Doris Fischer" in his congregation, she appeared to be an extremely unhappy and lonely individual who was prone to odd mood and behaviour shifts. She also seemed to experience bouts of amnesia in which she would forget what she had previously said or done. While Prince initially diagnosed her as suffering from hysteria (a common diagnosis for women patients of the time), he carefully studied her and concluded that she match...
More About: Sick

Providentia- Year 1
2008-01-17 14:00:00
This post marks the one year anniversary of this crazy blog that I started on January 17, 2007. I have completed more than 200 posts, had 80 comments, and 16 trackbacks. Since my first post, I have had 11,613 visits to my site and visitors have come from every continent on Earth (except Antarctica- are there no web providers down there?). I have been contacted by various memorable people and I'd like to think that I have had some impact. I have yet to break into the Technorati 100,000 but that may change in time. My site usage stats appear respectable and there does seem to be decent penetration but my bounce rate.., er, not that I spend a lot of time checking my stats (that would be silly). This blog began as just a hobby for me and that isn't like to change for the forseeable future. I enjoy having a forum that I can use to rant about things that matter to me and just to pass on the interesting tidbits that I have learned. If there are those who feel a little bored by the hi...
More About: Year 1 , Year

Are Compulsive Buyers Also Compulsive Hoarders?
2008-01-15 14:00:00
A paper presented in the November 2007 issue of Behavior Research and Therapy follows up on previous research that has indicated that compulsive buyers often suffer from compulsive hoarding as well. The researchers examined 66 treatment-seeking compulsive buyers prior to their entry into a group therapy program for compulsive buying. The study participants were tested using selected measures of compulsive buying and related clinical scales and were included in the study based on the proposed diagnostic criteria for compulsive buying by McElroy, Keck, Pope, Smith, and Strakowski [(1994). Compulsive buying: A report of 20 cases. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 55, 242-248]. The study results supported previous evidence concerning the link between compulsive buying and compulsive hoarding. Specific factors linked to hoarding included clutter, difficulty discarding and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Hoarding compulsive buyers also reported more severe buying symptoms and obsessive-compu...
More About: Buyers

Hunting Vampires
2008-01-13 14:00:00
Even today, tuberculosis remains a fearsome disease with an uncertain outcome. How much more frightening must it have seemed in 1892 after an epidemic of tuberculosis struck the Rhode Island town of Exeter? Despite the fact that the deaths were limited to a single family, the possibility of it spreading seemed very real to the people of the region. Following the deaths of Mary Eliza Brown and her daughter, Mary Olive in 1883, the two surviving children seemed to be spared for a time. When Mercy Lena Brown suddenly died in January, 1892 and her brother Edwin began to sicken as well, the patriarch of the family, George T. Brown, became desperate for any solution to save his only surviving child. True treatment for tuberculosis would not be available for decades and all that he had to rely upon were the folk remedies that his neighbours suggested.  History does not record who first proposed exhuming the deceased members of the family and burning the heart of the relative that seem...
More About: Vampires , Hunting

Losing Sleep
2008-01-10 14:00:00
A paper presented In the February 2008 issue of Clinics in Geriatric Medicine discusses the increasing incidence of sleep disorders as people grow older. In addition to different physiologic changes that occur with aging, sleep patterns are also altered. Elderly patients frequently complain of inability to get to sleep, shorter sleep times, and general disruption of circadian patterns that impact on well being. Many common chronic conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, dementia, chronic pain, and cancer, which are more common in the elderly, can also have significant effects on sleep and increase the likelihood of insomnia. This is a result not only of the chronic medical illnesses themselves, but of the psychological factors associated with the disease processes. Treatment professionals who deal with elderly patients need to be aware of the problems resulting from poor sleep and how these problems can aggravate other chronic health problems. Click ...
More About: Sleep

Unlawfully At Large
2008-01-08 14:00:00
After William Enman escaped from the New Jersey psychiatric hospital where he had been serving his sentence, he sent a letter to the governor and hospital CEO protesting that he had earned the right to sign himself out. The 64-year old patient has been serving a sentence for a brutal double-murder hat he had committed in 1974. Although diagnosed as schizophrenic, he has consistently denied the diagnosis and refused to comply with psychiatric treatment. Enman's September 9, 2007 escape from Ancora Psychiatric Hospital sparked a nation-wide manhunt although he was recaptured without incident 48 hours later. After his rearrest, he stated that he had escaped the hospital to "clear my mind" and that he needed to "get away" from his drug problem. In his letter, he stated that he had "maxed out" the time that he had spent in hospital and was entitled to leave. In the decades since he was first imprisoned for the brutal bludgeoning deaths of a man and his young son, Enman has committed ...
More About: Large , Awful

Raiding the Molly-House
2008-01-05 14:00:00
It was on a Sunday night in February, 1726 when constables descended on a notorious establishment in Holborn to raid what was then one of the most infamous "molly-houses" in London. Approximately forty patrons were taken into custody. Given the very real dangers that homosexuals of that period faced (including the death penalty if prosecuted), the existence of safe houses where they could meet secretly was a vital part of the underground network that existed at the time. There tends not to be much reliable information about these secret meeting places (known as molly-houses after the common slang term for homosexuals) aside from various satirical tracts and court documents. One tract published in 1729 estimated that there were as many as thirty molly-houses operating in London (including back-rooms of taverns, inns and private houses). Of all these establishments, there are none more famous than the molly-house run by Margaret ("Mother") Clap which, based on available testimony, was...
More About: House , Olly

After Chernobyl
2008-01-03 14:00:00
In the November issue of Psychological Medicine a study is presented examining the psychological aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl accident . This study describes the long-term psychological effects of Chernobyl in 295 male clean-up workers sent to Chernobyl between 1986 and 1990. The workers were interviewed 18 years after the accident (71% participation rate) along with 397 geographically matched controls interviewed as part of the Ukraine World Mental Health (WMS) Survey 16 years after the accident. The authors examined group differences in common psychiatric disorders, suicide ideation and severe headaches, differential effects of disorder on days lost from work, and in the clean-up workers, the relationship of exposure severity to disorder and current trauma and somatic symptoms. The results indicated that relatively more clean-up workers than controls experienced depression (18.0% v. 13.1%) and suicide ideation (9.2% v. 4.1%) after the accident. In the twelve months before the i...

Exorcism Centre To Open in Poland
2008-01-01 14:00:00
After receiving approval from the Catholic Church, a new centre is scheduled to be opened in the Polish town of Poczernin near the German border to provide exorcisms for those believing themselves to be possessed. Andrzej Trojanowski, an academic chaplain who has been working in the nearby town of Szczeczin for the past five years, will be directing the centre. Father Trojanowski is reported to have dealt with twenty cases a week in his former position. While there are currently fifty exorcists operating in Poland , the centre will be the first of its kind in that country. The new centre is also expected to draw potential clients from Germany due to the lack of exorcists in that country. Reports indicate that the centre will be built as a retreat house with a chapel, guest rooms and clinical facilities for the psychiatrist who has been working with Father Trojanowski. After a long decline throughout most of the twentieth century, demand for exorcisms began to make a comeback in t...
More About: Open , Centre , Exorcism

His Last Request
2007-12-30 14:00:00
Robert Baldwin is a familiar name to Canadian schoolchildren. He continues to be remembered as a bold political reformer and one of the architects of the first responsible government in Canadian history. Despite his prominence in Canadian political history, Baldwin's private life and some of the peculiarities surrounding his death in 1858 are not so well-known. His marriage to his first cousin, Augusta Elizabeth Sullivan, in 1827 was reluctantly permitted by their parents despite concerns about Eliza's chronic poor health and the potential risks of such a close genetic relationship to their children. As Baldwin's political career flourished, their family grew and they would have four children in all. Eliza's health took a turn for the worse following the caesarean birth of her last child in 1834 and she would die two years later. Robert Baldwin was devastated by her death and would never be the same afterward. His strong religious beliefs and obsession with the perfection of hi...
More About: Request

Does Childhood Suicidal Thinking Predict Later Suicide?
2007-12-27 14:00:00
An article in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry presents the results of a longitudinal study examining whether childhood suicidal thinking is related to mental health problems in adulthood. The study sample was made up of 1,022 Dutch children who were 11 years or younger in 1983 and who were followed over 10 to 14 years into adulthood. The study participants were assessed with a structured psychiatric interview to identify potential adult mental health problems including substance abuse, mental illness, and suicidal behaviour. Childhood suicidal thing was identified using using parental reports of suicidal thinking. The results indicated that childhood suicidal thinking was highly predictive of suicide ideation in adulthood and lifetime history of suicide attempts. Childhood suicidal thinking was also associated with an increased likelihood of mood disorder and anxiety disorder in adulthood as well as externalizing diso...
More About: Suicide , Thinking , Suicidal , Predict

Happy Holidays
2007-12-25 14:00:00
Happy holidays wishes to you and yours! For those of you who celebrate Christmas, may the day bring you good tidings and glad times. For those of you of other faiths, may the season be a good one for you and your families!
More About: Holidays , Happy Holidays , Happy

The Snakeroot Remedy
2007-12-23 14:00:00
Rauwolfia serpentina is an evergreen shrub with large leaves and flowers and tiny fruit that turn purple-black when ripe. It grows wild in India and is mainly found on the slopes of the Himalayas. The first recorded mention of rauwolfia roots (known as snakeroot or "sarpagandha" in Indian medicine) was in 600 BC although oral tradition describes it as a mainstay of Indian Avuredic medicine for thousands of years before that. Snakeroot gained its name as a treatment for the effects of snake venom but it was also used for treating insomnia, diarrhea, dysentery and uterine complications. Traditional healers also used it for the sedation of mental disturbances and it became known as the "insanity herb" for that reason. Rauwolfia serpentina was given its scientific name in the 17th century by a French botanist who named the shrub in honour of 16th century botanist and physician Leonhard Rauwolf. Still, its medical properties weren't formally identified until 1933 when Rauwolfia's valu...
More About: Remedy

What Causes Postconcussion Syndrome?
2007-12-20 14:00:00
The causes, diagnosis and outcome of postconcussion syndrome (PCS) remain controversial, especially following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) . An article in the August 2007 issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry describes the results of a prospective study examining the role of preexisting psychiatric disorders, demographic factors, injury-related characteristics, neuropsychological and psychological variables in shaping acute PCS. Using a sample of 90 traumatic brain-injured admissions to a Level 1 trauma hospital and 85 non-brain injured trauma controls, participants were given a battery of neuropsychological and psychological tests and a PCS checklist. Statistical analyses were used to predict acute PCS after 5 days postinjury. The results indicated that diagnosis of acute PCS was not specific to mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI 43.3%; controls 43.5%). Pain was found to be a significant factor but the the strongest predictor for acute PCS was previous...
More About: Syndrome

Russian Activist Being Held in Psychiatric Hospital
2007-12-18 14:00:00
In a disturbing development by the Russian government, opposition activist Artem Basyrov was detained by two plainclothes officers and sentenced to be held in a psychiatric hospital in the central region of Mari El. The November 23 arrest is the latest in a series of psychiatric committals directed against political figures and journalists critical of the current regime. The psychiatric board that reviewed the 20-year old Basyrov's case alleged that he had "harassed" a woman and was suffering from "some sort of mental illness". Basyrov's supporters dismiss the allegations as "idiocy" and maintain that his arrest was designed to punish him for running as an Other Russia candidate in the local legislature. Basyrov was one of the organizers for a "Dissenter's meeting" that was scheduled to take place on November 24th. The other organizer, Mikhail Klyuzhev, was arrested on November 22 for "hooliganism" and held for three days. While his Basyrov's is scheduled for review in a few wee...
More About: Hospital , Held

Travelling to Mars
2007-12-16 14:00:00
While spirit mediums and trance channellers come and go, there has never been anyone else quite like Catherine Elise Muller (more commonly known as Helene Smith). Born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1861, Catherine`s father was a Hungarian merchant with a talent for learning languages and her mother was prone to seeing ``visions``. From an early age, Catherine had a vivid imagination and extremely intense daydreams. She would tell her parents of her visions of brightly coloured landscapes, bizarre images, and bright lights and openly speculated about being a changeling. It was in 1891 that she was first introduced to Spiritualism and quickly showed a remarkable talent for automatic writing. She also showed a knack for mediumship and communicated with different spirits (including the ghost of Victor Hugo). Table-tipping, spirit writing, clairvoyance, Catherine did it all. Her spirit guide, Count Cagliostro (more commonly known as ``Leopold``) acted through her body and she claimed not to...
More About: Mars , Travelling

Victims Behind Bars
2007-12-13 14:00:00
The August 2007 issue of Psychiatric Services presents the results of a study examining rates of sexual victimization among prison inmates with and without a mental disorder. Using inmates aged 18 or older in 13 prisons within a single mid-Atlantic state prison system (12 facilities for men and one for women), a total of 7,528 inmates completed the survey which was administered by audio-computer-assisted technology. Of the 6,964 male respondents, 58.5% were African American, 16.2% were non-Hispanic white, 19.8% were Hispanic, and 5.5% were of another race or ethnicity. Of the 564 female respondents, 48.4% were African American, 30.9% were non-Hispanic white, 14.4% were Hispanic, and 7.3% were of another race or ethnicity. Determination of history of mental disorder was based on self-reported previous treatment for particular mental disorders. Sexual victimization was measured by using questions adapted from the National Violence Against Women and Men surveys. The result indicated th...
More About: Bars , Victims

Chaining the Wizard
2007-12-11 14:00:00
An 84-year old Ghanaian is facing legal charges for allegedly keeping her 50-year old son chained up in a single room for ten years on suspicion of his being a wizard. Kofi Menka, a former businessman and member of the Dome Royal Family in Offinso, Ghana is reportedly suffering from malnutrition and mutism as a result of his long incarceration and has been placed into the care of his younger brother. Journalists visiting Menka have indicated that "his beard, mustache and head had not seen razor for several months while his nails have grown long". Authorities have advised Menka's brother (who is also the current Dome chief) to send him to a psychiatric hospital for specialized care. While an official complaint has been laid against Menka's mother, Akua Bio, with the Offinso police, the Committee of Human Rights and Administrative Justice has yet to launch an investigation. According to family sources, she had Menka imprisoned after he had been cursed by a female trader. Clic...
More About: Wizard

Keeping Up Appearances
2007-12-09 14:00:00
One of the most memorable figures of the eighteenth century must surely be the Chevalier Charles D'Eon(or Chevaliere Charlotte D'Eon as he became more famously known). Born in Tonnerre, France in 1728 to a distinguished family, Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée Éon de Beaumont completed his education in 1749 and began a diplomatic career. He also became a spy for King Louis XV and took part in an espionage mission to the Russian court. While dressed as a woman, he became a close associate of the then-Empress. Later, posing as the uncle of the woman he had previously pretended to be, he reportedly convinced the Empress to sign an important treaty with France. After returning from Russia in 1761, he became a military officer and fought in the Seven Years War. When the war ended in 1763, along with a decoration for bravery, he also earned the rank of Chevalier and a position with the French embassy in London. As a favourite of English society, D'Eon was in a good...
More About: Appearances