Abstract
Emil Kraepelin was a renowned psychiatrist who studied under Wilhelm Wundt.
He learned experimental methodology under his guidance and some of his works came directly from Wundtian psychology. This paper will discuss some of his greatest discoveries such as his establishment in clinical observation. As well as the importance that Emil Kraepelin had on the taxonomy of psychiatric disorders and how his idea for this came about. It will also review his findings on bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Kraepelin also founded some ideas on what later on came to be known as Alzheimer’s disease.
Introduction
Emil Kraepelin was a student under Wundt. Under Wundt Kraepelin worked enthusiastically under him where his talents
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Bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, and later on he would also come to pave the way for research on Alzheimers. According to Eberr and Bar (2010) Emil Kraepelin was an influential German psychiatrist who lived in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. His work in this area had a large impact on modern psychology and it’s understanding of mental illness based on natural scientific concepts (Eberr & Barr 2010). Kraepelin did not believe that certain symptoms where characteristic for specific illness (Eberr & Barr 2010). His clinical observation led him to think that specific combinations of specific symptoms in relations to the course of psychiatric illnesses allow one to identify a
particular mental disorder (Eberr p.191). His work in psychosis is still highly acknowledged today. Kraepelin was successfully able to tell the difference between bipolar disorder, which was known as manic depression, and schizophrenia that was known as dementia praecox during that time. Kraepelin was so interested in this area because he saw dementia praecox was a biological illness because of the deadly pressures in the brain. Dementia was he saw it was a progressive neurodegenerative disease that caused irreversible cognitive loss (Eberr p. 191). On the other hand when it came to manic-depressive disorder he saw it as a disorder that would not cause permanent neurological damage. One other area that was founded by Kraepelin was his work in the discovery of
Bipolar disorder is one of the oldest known illnesses. Extensive research reveals that there was some mention of the symptoms in early medical records, which date back to the 1600’s. Bipolar was first noticed as far back as the second century. Aretaeus of Cappadocia (a city in ancient Turkey) first recognized some symptoms of mania and depression, and felt they could be linked to each other. Aretaeus’s findings went unnoticed and unsubstantiated until 1650, when a scientist named Richard Burton wrote a book, The Anatomy of Melancholia, which focused specifically on depression. His findings are still used today by many in the mental health field, and he is credited with being the father of depression as a mental illness. Bipolar is defined
From now on I will refer to the term “bipolar disorder” as manic-depressive illness. The discovery of watery patches in manic-depressives’ brain tissue was very interesting. It was rational for Kay to be afraid to share her illness with the world, since it could change the way people see her. Also, there are endless traumatic possibilities and it is scary to think that so many disorders go unnoticed. The passages in the memoir flooded me with all kinds of emotions.
the first man to write a medical description of the disease. He called it "melancholia",
Wilhelm Wundt was born in Mannheim, Germany on the 16th of August 1832. He grew up surrounded by a very intellectual family. Wundt was very distant from both his parents and a very lonely child in his early years in general. When his father suffered a stroke his assistant thought Wundt until the age of 13. At the age of 13 he entered into a Gymnasium. He failed his first year but graduated at the age of 19. (Nutty 2011) After graduating he went on to study medicine. After
Emil Kraepelin was a German physiatrist who became the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, and Psychopharmacology. He was born in 1856, Neusreletiz in Northern Germany, he graduated and received his M.D. from the University of Wurzburg. Emil began his work in the field of psychopharmacology at Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory at Leipzig University. Later, Kraepelin became the head of a clinic at the University of Dorpat where he began to study the clinical history of his patients with mental illnesses. It was then that he became interested in studying how the course of illnesses and the patterns of symptoms can help identify psychiatric disorders. Kraepelin began to view mental illness evident on individuals in a “clinical” view rather than through the
The goal of this course is to provide students with an overview of topics related to abnormal psychology. The primary emphasis of this course will be on classification of psychopathology and the symptoms associated with different syndromes.
Dr. Emile Krapelin, a German physician, was one of the first to separate mental disorders into different categories. “Dementia praecox” was the term Krapelin used for those patients who had some of the same symptoms that we now use to describe schizophrenia. Many people had described the basic concept of “madness” for hundreds, even thousands of years, however, Krapelin was the first to distinguish Schizophrenia as a distinguished mental disorder in the year 1887. He also was the first to distinguish between mental disorders such as Schizophrenia and depression. “Dementia praecox” was believed to be a “disease of the brain” meaning literally “early dementia.”
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the definition of Schizophrenia is “a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves” (2016). In 1887, Dr. Emile Kraepelin was the first to acknowledge Schizophrenia. Patients were having memory loss and not acting like themselves. When studying patients, he believed that it was much like dementia except in this particular case, the disease formed earlier in life. Dr. Kraeplin even named it "dementia praecox" meaning “early dementia”. After more research was conducted on this disease, Eugen Bleuler came to conclusion that this was not even close to dementia. So, in 1911, he changed the name to Schizophrenia.
The studies of Abnormal Psychology are not only important but very helpful; one example is the researches that have been done on many life threatening disorders in order to find good medication for the people with these disorders. However, even though it is used as a form of treatment
By the 1800s, physicians were able to establish that mental illness was connected to a biological disorder and that it could be triggered by different stressors in the individual’s life. They were also able to determine that there was more than one type of mental illness. After this discovery, people started shifting from mental asylums to mental hospitals that would allow the patients to receive specialized treatment that would positively benefit them in accordance to the specific mental afflictions they suffered from. Then, a psychiatrist was assigned to the patient so they could try to identify the stressors in their patient’s life and establish resolutions to eliminate the stressors.
Aristotle famously asked why is it that all men who have become outstanding in philosophy, poetry and arts are melancholic. This question remains unanswered today. Bipolar disorder is one of the most distinctive conditions in psychiatry. Many famous musicians, writers, and leaders of society have had bipolar disorder. Many of these people — and some of their physicians — have been concerned that the pharmacologic treatment of their mood swings might
Dementia praecox was first introduced to the world by Dr. Emile Kraepelin, but its name later changed to Schizophrenia in 1911, by Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler, he was the first doctor to describe the symptoms from positive to negative classified directly as a mental illness. According to the National Institute of Health, approximately 1.1% of the population worldwide is diagnosed with schizophrenia yearly. The disorder affects both men and woman, it does not discriminate. Its onset in seen in teen years and young adulthood, the frustration caused by living with a mind that feels disorganized much of the time often causes feelings of suicidal thoughts sadness, and anxiety. People with this condition find themselves socially isolated mainly
Even with the advancements in science and the new technologies available, the causes of schizophrenia are still unknown. In 1911 a Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, developed the term schizophrenia. “This word comes from the Greek roots schizo (split) and phrene (mind) to describe the fragmented thinking of people with the disorder” (Johns Hopkins Medicine). By developing the term schizophrenia, it allowed others to better understanding the disorder and move away from linking it to the common misunderstanding of having multiple or split personalities. Although this does not give us an understanding of the causes of the disorder, it does help to clarify and assist with classifying people with the symptoms associated with the
Today, mental issues like ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and depression are better understood thanks to past experience and seen as a minor neurosis. Unfortunately some treatments depersonalize these individuals leaving them empty and plain. There are clear examples of negative connotations attributed to medications. In his autobiography, the
Chapter 3 During the Middle Ages some “authorities” classified abnormal behaviors into two groups, those that resulted from demonic possession and those due to natural causes. The 19th-century German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin was the first modern theorist to develop a comprehensive model of classification based on the distinctive features, or symptoms, associated with abnormal behavior patterns (see Chapter 1). The most commonly used classification system today is largely an outgrowth and extension of Kraepelin’s work: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association. Why is it important to classify abnormal behavior? For one thing, classification is the core of science. Without labeling and organizing patterns of abnormal behavior, researchers could not communicate their findings to one another, and progress toward understanding these disorders would come to a halt. Moreover, important decisions are made on the basis of classification. Certain psychological disorders respond better to one therapy than another or to one drug than another.