Some descriptions of schizophrenia-like illness in the German literature of the early nineteenth century.
The situation of German psychiatry in the early nineteenth century is of interest as the specialty was developing in a society which was still largely non-industrial. Examination of the literature of the time allows, therefore, a testing of hypotheses concerning schizophrenia as a disease of industrial society. This study presents a number of descriptions of illness resembling schizophrenia derived from textbooks on mental illness and psychiatric journals from the period 1790-1830, as well as a fictional account in a novella by George Büchner dating from 1835. These descriptions suggest that schizophrenia did occur not uncommonly in pre-industrial Germany, and that the most detailed descriptions tended to come from non-specialist sources. The implications of this for the non-recognition of schizophrenia before Kraepelin's account of 1896 are discussed.
Crighton
J
J
D005858:Germany; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000266:history*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000266:history*; D012931:Social Environment