Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Show: 20 | 50 | 100
Results 1 - 20 de 721
Filter
1.
NTM ; 31(4): 421-455, 2023 12.
Article in German | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37982849

ABSTRACT

The article reconstructs attempts to create scientifically coherent, internationally agreed-upon diagnostics for mild forms of schizophrenia throughout the 20th century. A particular focus here lies on what became known as bland-or sluggish-schizophrenia, a particular term coined in the USSR, which became known for its frequent use in internationally contested diagnoses of human rights activists. The argument follows the diagnosis of sluggish schizophrenia from its inception in a highly productive and equally international psychiatric community of the early 20th century pioneered by prominent Soviet scholar Andrey Snezhnevsky and through its epistemic detachment and content-related transformation in the highly isolated Soviet psychiatric community since the interwar period. This transformation is analyzed with help of the case study on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Released by the World Health Organization, the ICD-and in particular its ninth revision-played a crucial role in the attempt to legitimize sluggish schizophrenia. The comparative study of four presumably identical ICD-passages from three languages helps reconstructing how internationally accorded terms would become adapted to the Soviet societal and political realities. The ultimate aim of the attempted adaptation, the article claims, was to provide the elsewhere contested diagnostic term "sluggish" schizophrenia with additional legitimacy per authority of the WHO and, thus, much needed credibility for domestic, and often political, use.


Subject(s)
Names , Schizophrenia , Humans , Schizophrenia/diagnosis , Schizophrenia/history , International Classification of Diseases , Dissent and Disputes , Human Rights
2.
Schizophr Bull ; 49(5): 1185-1193, 2023 09 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37318157

ABSTRACT

While the evolution of our modern concepts of mania and melancholia over the 19th century is relatively well-understood, no such clear narrative exists for the nonaffective psychotic syndromes that culminated in Kraepelin's concept of dementia praecox in 1899. These narratives were relatively distinct in Germany and France. An important milestone in the French literature is the 1852 essay by the alienist and polymath Charles Lasègue which contained the first detailed modern description of a persecutory delusional syndrome. Lasègue was a careful clinical observer who emphasized a symptomatic approach to psychiatric nosology and was less concerned with course and outcome. He details the evolution of persecutory delusions from increasing referential observations of real events, to the resulting anxious confusion and then the emergence of explanatory delusional beliefs. Once formed, these beliefs, he notes, are relatively impervious to correction. Lasègue was unusual for his time in emphasizing a "first-person perspective" on psychotic experiences, and quotes from his patients in his case history, of which he presents 15. Of these, 12 had auditory hallucinations and 4 passivity phenomena. While conceptualized differently than mid-19th century pre-Kraepelinian German writing on delusional syndromes, and unique on its focus on persecutory delusions, Lasègue's important essay shared a common view on the key features of a broad nonaffective delusional-hallucinatory syndrome. It was this syndrome that Kraepelin, over multiple drafts in the first 6 editions of his textbook from 1883 to 1899, was to divide into his mature concepts of paranoia and the paranoid subtype of dementia praecox.


Subject(s)
Psychiatry , Schizophrenia , Humans , History, 19th Century , Delusions , Syndrome , Psychiatry/history , Paranoid Disorders/history , Hallucinations , Schizophrenia/history
3.
Hist Psychiatry ; 33(1): 34-46, 2022 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35000477

ABSTRACT

Pre-Kraepelinian observations converged in Kahlbaum's and Hecker's description of Hebephrenia. For Kraepelin, Hebephrenia was an 'idiopathic incurable dementia whose onset is in adolescence'. It became the core of 'Dementia Praecox', and then Bleulerian 'Schizophrenia'. In recent decades, the resurgence of the 'late neurodevelopment' hypothesis of schizophrenia has brought into focus Hecker's clinical reports of adolescents who, as a result of a putative loss of psychic energy, showed a rapidly progressive cognitive impairment leading to functional and behavioural disorganization. This paper summarizes the nineteenth-century conceptualization of Hebephrenia as a developmental illness.


Subject(s)
Psychiatry , Schizophrenia , Adolescent , Humans , Psychiatry/history , Schizophrenia/diagnosis , Schizophrenia/history , Schizophrenia, Disorganized/diagnosis , Schizophrenia, Disorganized/history , Schizophrenia, Disorganized/psychology
4.
Hist Psychiatry ; 33(2): 230-235, 2022 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34320852

ABSTRACT

In the mid-twentieth century in the Soviet Union, latent schizophrenia became an important concept and a matter of research and also of punitive psychiatry. This article investigates precursor concepts in early Russian psychiatry of the nineteenth century, and examines whether - as claimed in recent literature - Russian and Soviet research on latent schizophrenia was mainly influenced by the work of Eugen Bleuler.


Subject(s)
Psychiatry , Schizophrenia , Schizotypal Personality Disorder , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Psychiatry/history , Russia , Schizophrenia/history
5.
Schizophr Bull ; 47(3): 635-643, 2021 04 29.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33320201

ABSTRACT

In 1921, at the age of 65, 6 years after completing the final edition of his textbook, 22 years after first proposing the concept of dementia praecox (DP), and 1 year before retiring from clinical work, Emil Kraepelin completed the last edition of his "Introduction to Clinical Psychiatry," which contained a mini-textbook for students, 10 pages of which were devoted to DP. This work also included a series of new detailed case histories, 3 of which examined DP. This neglected text represents a distillation of what Kraepelin judged, near the end of his long career, to be the essential features of DP. The relevant text and case histories are translated into English for the first time. Kraepelin did not define DP solely by its chronic course and poor prognosis, acknowledging that remissions and even full recovery might be possible. His clinical description emphasized the frequency of bizarre delusions and passivity symptoms. He recognized the heterogeneity of the clinical presentations, outlining 6 subtypes of DP, including dementia simplex, depressive and stuporous dementia, and an agitated and circular DP. Kraepelin's original concept of DP was not impervious to change and expanded somewhat, especially with the inclusion of Diem's concept of simple DP. He also reviews several contributions of Bleuler, including his concept "latent schizophrenia." He writes poignantly of the psychological consequences of DP. His 3 DP cases, for advanced students, included simple DP, "periodic catatonic," and "speech confusion."


Subject(s)
Psychiatry/history , Schizophrenia/history , Textbooks as Topic/history , History, 20th Century , Humans , Schizophrenia/classification , Schizophrenia/diagnosis , Schizophrenia/therapy
7.
Am J Psychoanal ; 80(3): 281-308, 2020 Sep.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32826953

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I evaluate Sabina Spielrein's life and ideas from a contemporary understanding. I do this by considering the context and situation in which she lived: a journey from being a hospitalized psychiatric patient to becoming a psychoanalyst herself. From her crucial life experiences she learned that the main psychic conflicts stem from the struggle between life and death, and not from opposing ego drives and sexual desires. Spielrein's considerable creative potentials were nurtured, as well as blocked by her inner conflicts, but also by the enormous historical conflicts of her time.


Subject(s)
Physician-Patient Relations , Physicians, Women/history , Psychoanalysis/history , Psychoanalytic Theory , History, 20th Century , Humans , Hysteria/history , Hysteria/therapy , Schizophrenia/history , Schizophrenia/therapy
8.
Schizophr Bull ; 46(4): 765-773, 2020 07 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32514545

ABSTRACT

While the roots of mania and melancholia can be traced to the 18th century and earlier, we have no such long historical narrative for dementia praecox (DP). I, here, provide part of that history, beginning with Kraepelin's chapter on Verrücktheit for his 1883 first edition textbook, which, over the ensuing 5 editions, evolved into Kraepelin's mature concepts of paranoia and paranoid DP. That chapter had 5 references published from 1865 to 1879 when delusional-hallucinatory syndromes in Germany were largely understood as secondary syndromes arising from prior episodes of melancholia and mania in the course of a unitary psychosis. Each paper challenged that view supporting a primary Verrücktheit as a disorder that should exist alongside mania and melancholia. The later authors utilized faculty psychology, noting that primary Verrücktheit resulted from a fundamental disorder of thought or cognition. In particular, they argued that, while delusions in mania and melancholia were secondary, arising from primary mood changes, in Verrücktheit, delusions were primary with observed changes in mood resulting from, and not causing, the delusions. In addition to faculty psychology, these nosologic changes were based on the common-sense concept of understandability that permitted clinicians to distinguish individuals in which delusions emerged from mood changes and mood changes from delusions. The rise of primary Verrücktheit in German psychiatry in the 1860-1870s created a nosologic space for primary psychotic illness. From 1883 to 1899, Kraepelin moved into this space filling it with his mature diagnoses of paranoia and paranoid DP, our modern-day paranoid schizophrenia.


Subject(s)
Delusions/history , Hallucinations/history , Psychiatry/history , Schizophrenia/history , Delusions/classification , Hallucinations/classification , History, 19th Century , Humans , Schizophrenia/classification , Schizophrenia, Paranoid/classification , Schizophrenia, Paranoid/history
9.
Hist Psychiatry ; 31(4): 387-404, 2020 Dec.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32538177

ABSTRACT

Although contemporary approaches to schizophrenia pinpoint 'disturbances of the self' as a central aetiological factor, historical insight into the link between accounts of schizophrenia and theories of subjectivity and self-consciousness is poor. This paper aims to overcome this gap by providing the outlines of a largely forgotten but crucial part of the intellectual history of schizophrenia. In particular, the impact of the German tradition of apperceptionism on nineteenth-century accounts of schizophrenia is unearthed. This tradition emerged from German Idealism, and culminated in Emil Kraepelin's account of dementia praecox. In addition to filling an important gap in the historiography of psychiatry, this analysis contributes to ongoing efforts to correct some common misunderstandings regarding Kraepelin's theoretical position.


Subject(s)
Psychological Theory , Psychology/history , Schizophrenia/history , Germany , History, 19th Century , Humans
10.
Hist Psychiatry ; 31(3): 364-375, 2020 Sep.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32308031

ABSTRACT

During the first half of the twentieth century, German psychiatry came to consider 'Ich-Störungen', best translated as self-disorders, to be important features of schizophrenia. The present text is a translation of a chapter by the German psychiatrist Hans Gruhle, which is extraordinarily clear and emblematic for this research line. Published in 1929, it was part of a book co-written with Josef Berze, The Psychology of Schizophrenia (concerning its subjectivity). Gruhle claims that the essential core of schizophrenia is of an affective nature, a 'mood' manifesting itself as self-disorder, an unstable, incomplete pre-reflective self-awareness. His impact on contemporary psychiatry was probably limited due to his confrontational style, but this text has great significance for the modern revival of phenomenological research in schizophrenia.


Subject(s)
Schizophrenia/history , Schizophrenic Psychology , Germany , History, 20th Century , Humans , Translations
11.
Schizophr Bull ; 46(4): 758-764, 2020 07 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31961430

ABSTRACT

In 1917, Eugen Bleuler published an article (Mendelismus bei Psychosen, speziell bei der Schizophrenie [Mendelism in the Psychoses, especially Schizophrenia]) in response to the recently published first systematic family study of dementia praecox (DP) by Ernst Rüdin, then working under Kraepelin in Munich. Although briefly commented upon by David Rosenthal in 1978, this article has never been thoroughly reviewed or translated. Of the many themes addressed, four are especially noteworthy. First, Bleuler argues that understanding the transmission patterns of schizophrenia in families requires definitive knowledge about the boundaries of the phenotype which he argues are unknown. Rüdin's choice-Kraepelin's concept of DP-is, he asserts, too narrow. Clarifying the genetics of schizophrenia is inextricably bound up with the problem of defining the phenotype. Second, Bleuler argues for the importance of "erbschizose" (literally "inherited schizoidia") wondering whether his "4 As" or other "brain-anatomical, chemical, [or] neurological characteristics" might underlie the genetic transmission of schizophrenia. Third, Bleuler was deeply interested in the nature of the onset of schizophrenia, suggesting that environmental adversity could provoke "latent illness to become manifest." It was important, he argued, to identify such risk factors and incorporate them into genetic models. Fourth, although not optimistic that current knowledge would permit a resolution of the transmission model for schizophrenia, he finds single-locus models implausible and at several points wonders whether polygenic models might better apply. A complete translation of the article is provided.


Subject(s)
Eugenics/history , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Psychiatry/history , Schizophrenia , Genetic Predisposition to Disease/genetics , Genetic Predisposition to Disease/history , History, 20th Century , Humans , Schizophrenia/etiology , Schizophrenia/genetics , Schizophrenia/history
12.
Psychiatr Pol ; 54(5): 845-864, 2020 Oct 31.
Article in English, Polish | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33529273

ABSTRACT

The third part of the triptych of my 50-year activity in psychiatry is about psychopharmacology. This way of treatment changed the picture of contemporary psychiatry. The introduction of neuroleptic (antipsychotic) drugs and tricyclic antidepressants in the 1950s resulted in a therapeutic revolution and contributed to the ?medicalization' of psychiatry and its therapeutic similarity to other non-surgical specialties. Adiscovery of prophylactic lithium activity in the1960s initiated the mood-stabilizing drugs.During the last half-century, the most dynamic was the 1990s when most antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs of the so-called new generation were introduced. The twenty-first century marks a debut of next antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs, some of the latter having long-acting injectable preparations. An interesting event was a demonstration of the antidepressant activity of ketamine. My research domain in psychopharmacology was lithium treatment of affective illnesses. Lithium makes the topic of many papers I authored, more than 150 of them are in the PubMed database. Many clinical and research aspects related to lithium administration have been reported as first in Polish literature and some are pioneering in the world. Recently, I wrote the book Lithium - the amazing drug in psychiatry which has also its English version. I have carried much research on antidepressant drugs, pharmacotherapy of treatment-resistant depression, and mood-stabilizing drugs for which I proposed a modern classification. I participated in European projects EUFEST and OPTIMISE on the optimization of using antipsychotic drugs in schizophrenia. I also performed much research on the antidepressant effect of ketamine and electroconvulsive therapy.


Subject(s)
Antidepressive Agents/history , Antipsychotic Agents/history , Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant/history , Lithium/history , Psychopharmacology/history , Schizophrenia/history , Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use , Antipsychotic Agents/therapeutic use , Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant/drug therapy , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Lithium/therapeutic use , Psychiatry/history , Schizophrenia/drug therapy
13.
Mol Psychiatry ; 25(1): 180-193, 2020 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30967680

ABSTRACT

In developing his mature concept of hebephrenic dementia praecox (DP) in his 4th (1893) through 6th textbook editions (1899), Kraepelin worked from the hebephrenic syndrome first described by Hecker (1871) and then carefully studied by his student Daraszkiewicz (1892). Working under Kraepelin's supervision, Daraszkiewicz followed Hecker in emphasizing several key features of hebephrenia (distinctive deteriorative course, importance of silliness and minimal positive psychotic symptoms) but expanded the syndrome to include cases developing severe dementia, rejected the link to prodromal depressive and manic phases, and reduced the emphasis on thought disorder. Daraszkiewicz proposed a soft subtyping of hebephrenia based on level of deterioration, which Kraepelin adopted in his 4th edition with an additional emphasis on severe positive psychotic symptoms. In his 5th edition, Kraepelin created a third subform with even more pronounced and bizarre delusions and hallucinations. In his 6th edition, which contained his first articulation of DP, Kraepelin eliminated his hebephrenia subforms presenting a single syndrome, which, compared to Hecker, included more emphasis on positive psychotic and catatonic symptoms and severe dementia. Kraepelin's paths to hebephrenic and paranoid DP differed in important ways. Paranoid DP was a de novo syndrome created by differentiation from paranoia. Hebephrenia, by contrast, evolved from a disorder created in the Kahlbaum/Hecker paradigm of the iterative study of clinical features, course and outcome. Kraepelin further implemented this approach in substantially reworking, over several drafts, the hebephrenic syndrome to fit into his emerging construct of dementia praecox.


Subject(s)
Schizophrenia, Disorganized/diagnosis , Schizophrenia/diagnosis , Schizophrenia/physiopathology , Bipolar Disorder , Dementia , Hallucinations , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Paranoid Disorders , Psychiatry/history , Psychotic Disorders/history , Schizophrenia/history , Schizophrenia, Disorganized/history , Schizophrenia, Disorganized/physiopathology , Syndrome
14.
Schizophr Bull ; 46(3): 471-483, 2020 04 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31677384

ABSTRACT

Through a close reading of texts, this essay traces the development of catatonia from its origination in Kahlbaum's 1874 monograph to Kraepelin's catatonic subtype of his new category of Dementia Praecox (DP) in 1899. In addition to Kraepelin's second to sixth textbook editions, I examine the six articles referenced by Kraepelin: Kahlbaum 1874, Brosius 1877, Neisser 1887, Behr 1891, Schüle 1897, and Aschaffenburg 1897 (Behr and Aschaffenburg worked under Kraepelin). While Brosius and Neisser confirmed Kahlbaum's descriptions, Behr, Schüle, and Aschaffenburg concluded that his catatonic syndrome was nonspecific and only more narrowly defined forms, especially those with deteriorating course, might be diagnostically valid. Catatonia is first described by Kraepelin as a subform of Verrücktheit (chronic nonaffective delusional insanity) in his second to fourth editions. In his third edition, he adds a catatonic form of Wahnsinn (acute delusional-affective insanity). His fourth and fifth editions contain, respectively, catatonic forms of his two proto-DP concepts: Psychischen Entartungsprocesse and Die Verblödungsprocesse. Kahlbaum's catatonia required a sequential phasic course. Positive psychotic symptoms were rarely noted, and outcome was frequently good. While agreeing on the importance of key catatonic signs (stupor, muteness, posturing, verbigeration, and excitement), Kraepelin narrowed Kahlbaum's concept, dropping the phasic course, emphasizing positive psychotic symptoms and poor outcome. In his fourth to sixth editions, as he tried to integrate his three DP subtypes, he stressed, as suggested by Aschaffenburg and Schüle, the close clinical relationship between catatonia and hebephrenia and emphasized the bizarre and passivity delusions seen in catatonia, typical of paranoid DP.


Subject(s)
Catatonia/history , Schizophrenia/history , Catatonia/diagnosis , Catatonia/physiopathology , History, 19th Century , Humans , Schizophrenia/diagnosis , Schizophrenia/physiopathology
15.
Acta Med Hist Adriat ; 17(1): 91-102, 2019 07 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31315410

ABSTRACT

In the first half of the 20th century, in most European countries, it was thought that cholinesterase and other drugs that counteract acetylcholine should reduce the manifestations of schizophrenia. In 1937, Fiamberti (1894-1970) introduced the transorbital method of lobotomy which established the use of acetylcholine shock treatment for curing the disturbances of schizophrenia. Accepting the idea that the psychic alterations of schizophrenia were caused by a pathological interruption of nerve conduction at a presumably cortical level, Fiamberti thought he could apply this to the clinical field using the properties of acetylcholine, an acetic ester of choline. Here, we examined, in detail, the contribution of Mario Fiamberti to acetylcholine therapy.


Subject(s)
Acetylcholine/history , Hospitals, Psychiatric/history , Schizophrenia/history , Acetylcholine/therapeutic use , History, 20th Century , Humans , Psychosurgery/history , Schizophrenia/drug therapy
16.
Curr Psychiatry Rep ; 21(8): 65, 2019 07 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31264045

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Emil Kraepelin, in 1899, proposed a dichotomy of psychiatric disorders into "dementia praecox," further called schizophrenia, and "manisch-depressives Irresein," now conceptualized as a bipolar disorder. The purpose of the review is to show both similarities and differences between disorders involved in this dichotomy, speaking for and against the idea. RECENT FINDINGS: On the molecular genetic side, there are data for both a genetic overlap and genetic differences between these two illnesses. Among pharmacological treatment, lithium, valproates, and carbamazepine present evidence for Kraepelinian dichotomy while atypical antipsychotics speak against this. The recent results for similarities and differences in the immune system, cognitive functions, and neurodevelopmental mechanisms have also been presented and discussed. As of 2019, the Kraepelinian dichotomy has been still partly valid although the results of recent clinical, neurobiological, and pharmacological studies provided a large number of data for an intermediate space between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.


Subject(s)
Bipolar Disorder/history , Schizophrenia/history , Anniversaries and Special Events , Antipsychotic Agents/therapeutic use , Bipolar Disorder/drug therapy , Bipolar Disorder/genetics , History, 19th Century , Humans , Schizophrenia/drug therapy , Schizophrenia/genetics
17.
Schizophr Bull ; 45(5): 971-990, 2019 09 11.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31206162

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: First-rank symptoms (FRS), proposed by Kurt Schneider in 1939, subsequently became influential in schizophrenia diagnosis. We know little of their prehistory. How often were FRS described before 1939 and in which countries and time periods? Which FRS was most frequently noted? OBSERVATIONS: Forty psychiatric texts from 37 authors, published 1810-1932, were identified that described FRS. In a systematic subsample, half of the textbooks examined contained such descriptions with little differences between countries or over time. Somatic passivity was most commonly noted, followed by thought insertion, thought withdrawal, and made actions. This pattern resembled that reported in recent studies of schizophrenia. A novel term-delusions of unseen agency-was seen in psychiatric texts and then found, from 1842 to 1905, in a range of official reports, and psychiatric, medical, and general audience publications. The Early Heidelberg School (Gruhle, Mayer-Gross, Beringer) first systematically described "self-disturbances" (Ichstörungen), many of which Schneider incorporated into FRS. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: From the beginning of Western descriptive psychopathology in the early 19th century, symptoms have been observed later described as first-rank by Schneider. A term "delusion of unseen agency"-closely related to Schneider's first-rank concept-was popular in the second half of the 19th century and described in publications as prominent as the Encyclopedia Britannica and New England Journal of Medicine. The descriptions of these specific symptoms, with substantial continuity, over more than 2 centuries and many countries, suggest that an understanding of their etiology would teach us something foundational about the psychotic illness.


Subject(s)
Psychiatry/history , Schizophrenia/history , Schizophrenic Psychology , Delusions , Hallucinations , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century
18.
Med Hist ; 63(3): 249-269, 2019 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31208479

ABSTRACT

Twentieth-century psychiatry was transformed in the 1950s and 1960s by the introduction of powerful psychopharmaceuticals, particularly Chlorpromazine (Thorazine). This paper examines the reception of Chlorpromazine in the Soviet Union and its effect on the Soviet practice of psychiatry. The drug, known in the USSR by the name Aminazine, was first used in Moscow in 1954 and was officially approved in 1955. I argue that Soviet psychiatrists initially embraced it because Aminazine enabled them to successfully challenge the Stalin-era dogma in their field (Ivan Pavlov's 'theory of higher nervous activity'). Unlike in the West, however, the new psychopharmaceuticals did not lead to deinstitutionalisation. I argue that the new drugs did not disrupt the existing Soviet system because, unlike the system in the West, the Soviets were already dedicated, at least in theory, to a model which paired psychiatric hospitals with community-based 'neuropsychiatric dispensaries.' Chlorpromazine gave this system a new lease on life, encouraging Soviet psychiatrists to more rapidly move patients from in-patient treatment to 'supporting' treatment in the community.


Subject(s)
Antipsychotic Agents/history , Chlorpromazine/history , Pharmacies/history , Psychiatry/history , Psychopharmacology/history , Schizophrenia/history , Ambulatory Care/history , Antipsychotic Agents/therapeutic use , Chlorpromazine/therapeutic use , History, 20th Century , Hospitals, Psychiatric/history , Humans , Institutionalization/history , Mental Health Services/history , Schizophrenia/drug therapy , Schizophrenia/therapy , USSR
19.
Cult Med Psychiatry ; 43(4): 548-573, 2019 Dec.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31209651

ABSTRACT

This article uses the concept of "diagnosis infrastructures" to propose a framework for narrating the history of schizophrenia as a global category in the twentieth century. Diagnosis infrastructures include the material and architectural arrangements, legal requirements, and professional models that enable both the ways in which patients come to clinics and navigate the world of schizophrenia as well as the means through which clinicians organize their diagnostic work. These infrastructures constitute a framework for how schizophrenia has been identified as a disorder. This article explores three moments in the history of schizophrenia infrastructures in the twentieth century. The first is the German psychiatrist Kurt Schneider's discussion of first- and second-rank symptoms in the interwar period. The second is the research on criteria for defining schizophrenia within the framework of the WHO International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia at the turn of the 1970s. The third corresponds to the changing infrastructures of mental health care in the context of both global mental health and the changing landscape of schizophrenia research over the last decades.


Subject(s)
Mental Health Services/history , Psychiatry/history , Schizophrenia/history , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Mental Health Services/trends , Psychiatry/trends
20.
Psychiatry Res ; 277: 70-71, 2019 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31229308

ABSTRACT

The Genain Quadruplets, a genetically identical group of sisters, all developed schizophrenia by their early 20s. Beginning in the 1950s, under the direction of David Rosenthal, they have been studied extensively with a number of neurobiological, neuroradiological and neurobehavioral measures at the Intramural Program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). A major focus of research interest has been the fact that they varied greatly in the severity of their illness. The present report emphasizes the important role that Monte Buchsbaum had in their evaluation, especially with respect to neuroradiology, during their second period of study at NIMH in the 1980s. It is of special interest that Buchsbaum et al. (1984) concluded "No strong relationship is shown between these (radiological) measures and illness severity or drug responsivity." The inference, therefore, is that the differences in illness severity among the sisters were not readily attributable to differences in the amount of damaged brain, at least as could be determined by the imaging methods available in the 1980s. The current report also summarizes the results of the other studies performed on the sisters in the 1980s, to which Monte Buchsbaum contributed.


Subject(s)
Quadruplets/history , Schizophrenia/history , Adult , Female , History, 20th Century , Humans , National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) , Psychiatry/history , Quadruplets/psychology , Schizophrenia/genetics , Schizophrenia/pathology , United States
SELECTION OF CITATIONS
SEARCH DETAIL
...