Emil Kraepelin
Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) was a pioneering German psychiatrist known for his significant contributions to the classification of mental illnesses. He developed a systematic approach to categorizing mental disorders, distinguishing between exogenous (external causes) and endogenous (biological) conditions. Notably, Kraepelin identified and differentiated bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, emphasizing that while bipolar disorders could be treated, schizophrenia was often incurable. His influential work, "Compendium der Psychiatrie," first published in 1883, laid the groundwork for modern psychiatric classification systems, including the well-known DSM used today.
Kraepelin was educated in medicine and worked closely with notable figures in psychology, including Wilhelm Wundt. His career included various academic and clinical roles, culminating in his professorship at Munich University. In addition to his classification system, he studied the effects of alcohol on mental health and collaborated with Alois Alzheimer, contributing to our understanding of Alzheimer's disease. Despite his foundational contributions, Kraepelin's legacy is complex, as his views on race and support for eugenics raise ethical concerns. Nevertheless, his emphasis on clinical studies and biological perspectives remains influential in contemporary psychiatric research.
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Subject Terms
Emil Kraepelin
- Born: February 15, 1856
- Birthplace: Neustrelitz, Germany
- Died: October 7, 1926
- Place of death: Munich, Germany
TYPE OF PSYCHOLOGY: Emotion; personality; psychopathology; social psychology
Kraepelin developed a classification system for mental illness and identified bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Life
Emil Kraepelin was taught the value of hard work by his father, a Prussian schoolteacher. Kraepelin began studying medicine in 1874 at the University of Leipzig and then at the University of Würzburg. In 1877, he met experimental psychologist Wilhelm Wundt and studied with him from 1882 to 1883, pursuing a better understanding of the effects of drugs, alcohol, and fatigue on the human mind. Between 1878 and 1882, he assisted Bernhard von Gudden at the psychiatric asylum of Munich County. In 1882, he was appointed as the senior assistant under Paul Flechsig at the psychiatric hospital at Leipzig University.
Kraepelin wrote his first edition of Compendium der Psychiatrie (1883; Compendium of Psychiatry) to improve his financial situation. The work focused on a workable model for classifying mental illnesses. He divided mental disorders into two categories: those caused by external conditions (exogenous) and those related to biological disorders (endogenous). He believed that exogenous disorders, such as fear of spiders and depression, could be treated, while endogenous disorders, such as brain damage and genetic defects, were incurable.
After serving as a senior assistant at the asylum at Leubus (1884), as the head of the ward for patients with mental health conditions at the general hospital in Dresden, Germany (1885), and as a professor of psychiatry at Dorpat (Estonia) University (1886–1891), he accepted a position as a professor of psychiatry at Heidelberg University. In his sixth edition of the Compendium (1899), Kraepelin distinguished between bipolar disorder (previously called manic-depressive disorder) and schizophrenia. After many years of clinical studies and thousands of cases, he concluded that bipolar disorders were treatable, but that schizophrenia was incurable. During the same period, he also published many papers on the harmful psychological effects of alcohol.
In 1903, Kraepelin accepted a job as a professor of psychiatry at Munich University. In 1909, he and one of his former students, Alois Alzheimer, classified a disorder that became known as Alzheimer’s disease. Kraepelin spent much time designing and preparing the German Psychiatric Research Institution that opened in Munich in 1917. In 1922, he became the director of the institution. Kraepelin’s classification system of mental health conditions greatly influenced subsequent classifications by other psychiatrists. His classification of mental health conditions also laid the groundwork for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is used and updated by mental health professionals to assist in diagnosis and treatment. Kraepelin emphasized the importance of clinical and longitudinal studies in psychology and paved the way for an increased biological understanding of mental health conditions. Still, Kraepelin's ideas on race and his support of eugenics complicate his legacy, though his fundamental concepts continue to be valid working principles in modern psychiatric research.
Bibliography
Engstrom, Eric J. "Tempering Madness: Emil Kraepelin’s Research on Affective Disorders." Osiris, 2016, doi.org/0369-7827/11/2016-0008. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.
Engstrom, Eric J., and Kenneth S. Kendler. "Emil Kraepelin: Icon and Reality." American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 172, no. 12, 11 Sept. 2015, doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15050665. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.
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Read, John, and Jacqui Dillon. Models of Madness: Psychological, Social, and Biological Approaches to Psychosis. London: Routledge, 2013.
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