Karl Jaspers And The Biological Method In Psychiatry

Karl Jaspers was a German psychiatrist and philosopher who had a great influence on psychiatry and philosophy. Because of this, many experts consider him one of the pioneers of existentialism. In the same way, he is also known for having created the biographical method, which has an important psychiatric application.

Jaspers was born in Oldenburg, Germany in 1883. He studied medicine at the University of Oldenburg and obtained his doctorate in 1909. He immediately began his psychiatric practice at Heidelberg University Hospital. Soon he became interested in learning how mental illnesses were treated during that period.

In 1921, Karl Jaspers became a professor of psychology at the University of Heidelberg. Little by little, the learning began to take up all his time. For this reason, he retired from clinical practice. This made him really sad.

Nazism and World War II

Karl Jasper’s wife was the daughter of a Jewish couple. Because of this, and with the rise of Nazism, he was removed from his position as professor. World War II was a trying time for his family. He did not get his job back until 1946, when the war ended.

Since then, Karl Jaspers became an important figure during the German reconstruction. In particular, he was one of those responsible for restoring a normal education. His main goal was to exterminate all Nazis from German schools.

Immediately he was disappointed with politics in general. As a result , he decided to start working at the University of Basel in 1948. The constant disappointments and the war itself definitely influenced his existentialist perspective.

Karl Jasper’s biographical method

One of Karl Jasper’s most important contributions was the biographical method. It consists of asking the patient to explain in writing the way they perceive their symptoms. In other words, to register their perception of reality. This method allowed professionals to understand what was happening in the patient’s mind.

It is especially important because it adds value to the patient’s words, which does not happen often in modern psychiatry. Psychiatrists tend to consider the patient’s words as products of brain defects. However, the biographical method provides some value for this “nonsense talk” and uses it to understand changes in the patient’s perceptions.

In the same way, Karl Jaspers wrote carefully about his patients. He also described their symptoms as accurately as possible. He looked for elements in the patient’s life that would allow him to understand their ailments.

Other contributions by Karl Jaspers

Karl Jaspers also postulated the existence of two types of delusions: primary and secondary. Primary delusions are those that are manifested for no apparent reason. Therefore, they are autonomous and incomprehensible from a psychological point of view.

On the other hand, secondary delusions manifest themselves as an attempt to explain irregular experiences, and they are psychologically understandable .

Jaspers published his conclusions in his book General Psychopathology . This book became a classic and laid the foundation for future psychiatric developments.

Jaspers also ventured into philosophy and theology. Books like Philosophy of Existence or Man in the Modern Age really made him famous. Unfortunately, Karl Jasper’s books are difficult to get into. He was an author that you will only be able to understand after reading his books several times.

His last year

Karl Jaspers was always interested in politics, religion and philosophy. He wrote several styles on these issues. One of his most interesting is The Atom Bomb and The Future of Man.

Many of his works show how disappointed he was with his country. Because of this, he refused his German citizenship in 1967. He consistently became a citizen of the Helvetic Republic .

He received many awards throughout his life. The most important were the Goethe Prize for the city of Frankfurt in 1947 and the Erasmus Prize in 1959. In addition, he was awarded honorary doctorates by various universities. He died as a Swiss citizen in Basel in 1969.