Dementia praecox
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| - | :“The degenerate human being, if he is abandoned to himself, falls into a progressive degradation. He becomes…not only incapable of forming part of the chain of transmission of progress in human society, he is the greatest obstacle to this progress through his contact with the healthy proportion of the population.” Bénédict Augustin Morel, Treatise on the Physical, Intellectual and Moral Degeneration of the Human Race, 1857 | + | '''Dementia praecox''' (a "premature dementia" or "precocious madness") refers to a chronic, deteriorating [[psychotic disorder]] characterized by rapid cognitive disintegration, usually beginning in the late teens or early adulthood. It is a term first used in 1891 in this Latin form by [[Arnold Pick]] (1851–1924), a professor of psychiatry at the German branch of [[Charles University in Prague]]. His brief clinical report described the case of a person with a psychotic disorder resembling [[hebephrenia]] (see below). It was popularized by German psychiatrist [[Emil Kraepelin]] (1856–1926) in 1893, 1896 and 1899 in his first detailed textbook descriptions of a condition that would eventually be reframed into a substantially different disease concept and relabeled as [[schizophrenia]]. |
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| - | '''Bénédict Augustin Morel''' ([[November 22]], [[1809]]–[[March 30]], [[1873]]), was an Austrian-French physician who was a seminal figure in the field of [[psychiatry]] in 19th century Europe. | + | |
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| - | Morel coined the term ''démence precoce'' to describe a mental disorder which initially struck males when they were teens or young adults, and eventually led to deterioration of mental functioning and disability. German psychologist [[Emil Kraepelin]] later called it by the [[Latin]] name of ''[[dementia praecox]]'', which is now known as [[schizophrenia]], which was coined by Swiss psychologist [[Eugen Bleuler]] in 1908. | + | |
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| - | Morel, influenced by [[natural history|naturalist]] [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of evolution, saw mental deficiency as the end stage of a process of mental deterioration. It was through Darwin's writings that Morel created his theory of "degeneration" concerning mental problems from early life to adulthood. In [[1857]], he published the ''[[Traité des dégénérescences|Traité des dégénérescences physiques, intellectuelles et morales de l'espèce humaine et des causes qui produisent ces variétés maladives]]'', in which he argued that some illnesses are caused by [[degeneration]]. | + | |
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| - | Morel's interest in psychiatry was enhanced in the mid-1840s when he visited several mental institutions throughout Europe. In 1848 he was appointed director of the Asile d'Aliénés de Maréville at [[Nancy]]. Here he introduced reforms regarding the welfare of the mentally ill, particularly liberalization of restraining methods. At the Maréville asylum he studied the mentally handicapped, researching their family histories and examining aspects such as poverty and early physical illnesses. He also believed that external agents such as alcohol and drugs could be a factor in the course of mental development. | + | |
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| - | == Partial Bibliography: == | + | |
| - | * ''Traité des maladies mentales''. 2 volumes; Paris, 1852-1853; 2nd edition, 1860. (In the 2nd edition he coined the term démence-precoce to refer to mental degeneration.} | + | |
| - | * ''Le no-restraint ou de l’abolition des moyens coercitifs dans le traitement de la folie''. Paris, 1861 | + | |
| - | * ''Du [[goître]] et du [[crétinisme]], [[étiologie]], prophylaxie etc''. Paris, 1864 | + | |
| - | * ''De la formation des types dans les variétés dégénérées''. Volume 1; Rouen, 1864 | + | |
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| + | The primary disturbance in dementia praecox is not one of [[mood (psychology)|mood]] (as is the case in [[manic-depressive illness]]), but of thinking or [[cognition]]. Cognitive disintegration refers to a disruption in cognitive or mental functioning such as in attention, memory, and goal-directed behavior. | ||
| + | From the outset, dementia praecox was viewed by Kraepelin as a progressively deteriorating disease from which no one recovered. The three terms that Kraepelin used to refer to the end state of the disease were ''"Verblödung"'' (deterioration), ''Schwachsinn'' (mental weakness) or ''Defekt'' (defect). Although "dementia" is part of the name of the disease, Kraepelin did not intend it to be similar to senile dementia and rarely used this term to refer to the end state of the disease. However, by 1913, and more explicitly by 1920, Kraepelin admitted that although there seemed to be a residual cognitive defect in most cases, the prognosis was not as uniformly dire as he had stated in the 1890s. Still, he regarded it as a specific disease concept that implied incurable, inexplicable madness. | ||
| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | *[[Dementia]] | ||
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Dementia praecox (a "premature dementia" or "precocious madness") refers to a chronic, deteriorating psychotic disorder characterized by rapid cognitive disintegration, usually beginning in the late teens or early adulthood. It is a term first used in 1891 in this Latin form by Arnold Pick (1851–1924), a professor of psychiatry at the German branch of Charles University in Prague. His brief clinical report described the case of a person with a psychotic disorder resembling hebephrenia (see below). It was popularized by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin (1856–1926) in 1893, 1896 and 1899 in his first detailed textbook descriptions of a condition that would eventually be reframed into a substantially different disease concept and relabeled as schizophrenia.
The primary disturbance in dementia praecox is not one of mood (as is the case in manic-depressive illness), but of thinking or cognition. Cognitive disintegration refers to a disruption in cognitive or mental functioning such as in attention, memory, and goal-directed behavior.
From the outset, dementia praecox was viewed by Kraepelin as a progressively deteriorating disease from which no one recovered. The three terms that Kraepelin used to refer to the end state of the disease were "Verblödung" (deterioration), Schwachsinn (mental weakness) or Defekt (defect). Although "dementia" is part of the name of the disease, Kraepelin did not intend it to be similar to senile dementia and rarely used this term to refer to the end state of the disease. However, by 1913, and more explicitly by 1920, Kraepelin admitted that although there seemed to be a residual cognitive defect in most cases, the prognosis was not as uniformly dire as he had stated in the 1890s. Still, he regarded it as a specific disease concept that implied incurable, inexplicable madness.
See also
