Emil Kraepelin: The Father Of Modern Psychiatry

The name Emil Kraepelin is one of the most important in the history of medicine. He is basically the father of modern psychiatry, psychiatric genetics and psychopharmacology. He was also the main figure in promoting the field of biological psychiatry, which views mental illness as a biological issue.

Emil Kraepelin developed his theories at the beginning of the 20th century, but they are still important in psychiatric practice even today. At the same time, his ideas have also been criticized for being “too scientific”. It is inconceivable not to at least be familiar with his ideas as a psychiatrist.

Emil Kraepelin was against psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud’s theories. Psychoanalysis was very much in vogue when Kraepelin came up with his own theories. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that he also studied common psychoanalytic topics such as dream interpretation.

The life of Emil Kraepelin

Kraepelin was born on February 15, 1865 in Germany. He studied medicine in various places, but mainly at the University of Leipzig. He was always very interested in the human mind, right from the moment he started studying.

This led him to take a course in experimental psychology with Wilhelm Wundt, the creator of the field. He then became a psychiatric assistant.

He graduated in 1874 with a dissertation entitled ” The Influence of Acute Illness in the Causation of Mental Disorders.” He later studied neuropathology and began researching psychopharmacology and psychophysiology. He also worked at several mental hospitals and became a professor at Dorpat University (in Estonia) in 1886.

In 1922 he became chairman of the board of the German Institute for Psychiatric Research in Munich. He was already world famous by then. He had made much progress in developing his theories, with very detailed research and exhibitions involving painstaking minute observations of people with “mental illness”.

Emil Kraepelin’s work

Kraepelin’s first major work was the Compendium of Psychiatry . In it he talked about the many observations he had made in the countless clinical cases he had in mental hospitals.

It was a groundbreaking work in psychiatry. He described the symptoms to the patients in extreme detail and tried to classify the diseases based on these symptoms. He was only 27 years old when he published the book.

The second and third editions of the book changed the name “compendium” to “dissertation”. In these later editions, Emil Kraepelin introduced the concept of disease evolution, which was a central part of making a differential diagnosis. He also added a chapter on catatonia.

In the fourth, fifth and sixth editions he continued to talk about processes of mental degeneration. These processes included catatonia, premature dementia and paranoid dementia. He also introduced the concept of manic depressive disorder.

In other words, he continued to fine-tune his definitions and expand the content from edition to edition. The eighth edition was over 2,500 pages long.

Emil Kraepelin and his legacy

One of the most interesting moments in the history of cognitive science was when Emil Kraepelin saw a patient who ended up becoming famous, but not because of him. The man was Sergei Pankejeff, who Kraepelin did not actually succeed with. He eventually diagnosed Pankejeff with manic depressive disorder.

The same man continued to see Sigmund Freud. He became more famous in the history of psychoanalysis under the nickname ” Wolf Man “. Freud diagnosed him with a neurotic-obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Emil Kraepelin’s classifications of various mental illnesses have become the basis for modern psychiatry. His theories stood out from all the others during his time, and he became very prestigious. He wanted psychiatry to have a more solid scientific reputation, whatever it cost. This is why all his research was so rigorous.

Kraepelin was also interested in studying mental illness in other cultures. This served as a basis for the field of ethnopsychiatry and cross-cultural psychiatry. In fact, he traveled several times to Mexico, Spain, Indonesia, India and the United States to gather information. He called it “comparative psychiatry”.

Emil Kraepelin died at the age of 70 in Munich, Germany. By that time he had already laid the foundation for all modern psychiatry with his solid work. Although there are people who question some of his ideas, there are still many psychiatrists who are true to his theories.