Present-Day German-Speaking Psychiatry

Abstract

The first point to which I shall address myself will be the foundations of German-speaking psychiatry upon the basis of which post-World War II events developed. The most significant cornerstone is clearly Emil Kraepelins nosological systernatization. Although Kurt Schneider also took up Kahlbaums concept of cyclothymia, he nonetheless considerably narrowed Kraepelins definition of manic-depressive illness. As a result, Schneiders concept of schizophrenia was also broadened, a tendency that can be traced to Eugen Bleuler. At any rate, the emphasis in diagnosis was thereby displaced from a longitudinal view to a cross-sectional one. On the other hand, dementia praecox, as defined by Kraepelin in terms of its poor prognosis, was also subsumed under the definition of schizophrenia favored by Kleist and Leonhard, whose orientation originally stems from Wernicke. They further subdivided what is currently called schizoaffective illness, an entity which stands between the two large groups of endogenous psychotic illnesses, into separate disease forms.