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Biomedical subjects

K Leonhard

Publications and source records attributed to K Leonhard.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

[Exceptional musical performance in early childhood catatonia].

Many years ago the author, jointly with a psychologist, described a patient who, in spite of her alleged idiocy, showed an exceptional musical capacity. However, in the meantime the author has recognized and described early childhood catatonics and, as a consequence of this new knowledge, he has to admit an error. Even according to our then findings it would have been identifiable that, as has been confirmed now by follow-up, the patient is suffering from catatonia, starting in infancy. The high musical performance, then arousing our greatest astonishment, is now explicable, for childhood schizophrenics do not develop general mental deficiency but only specific circumscribed deficits.

Achievement↗
PubMed1986

[Sadomasochism and dreams in the background of Kafka's poetry].

Kafka's detailed descriptions of individuals being physically and psychically tortured can only be understood when accepting a sado-masochistic background. On the other hand, the discrepancies and absurdities, appearing again and again in his poetic products, are due to his habit of taking dream and its illogical connections as a model. The specific feature of dream with its central and peripheral phenomena is often identifiable in Kafka's descriptions. Whether he intended to present symbols is uncertain.

Dreams↗
PubMed1985

[Configuration of the dream in REM sleep].

Dreams during REM sleep have a characteristic form. They are, so to speak, "chain dreams, in which the scenes follow consecutively and, although distinctly separate from each other, are welded into a coherent dream by the primary integrating thoughts underlying the dream. The contents of the different scenes are difficult to reconcile with the integrating thought behind the dream because they are not stimulated by the thought alone but, in a certain way, also by past experiences. The author describes a dream which apparently filled the REM phase from beginning to end. It has been possible to explain the background of the integrating thought and the origins of the different scenes. The peculiar character of such dreams should find more attention in scientific research.

Dreams↗
PubMed1984

[Kraepelin's psychiatric treatment method based on his life reflections].

Kraepelin's therapeutic arsenal was rather small compared with our present possibilities. In the beginning of his psychiatric activity Kraepelin was confronted with desolate conditions in mental hospitals. He overcame this situation successfully and initiated methods of treatment which in some respects could be model up to the present time. Above all, worthwhile noting, in this context, is Kraepelin's emphatic refusing of restraint and isolation.

Germany↗
PubMed1983

Is the concept of 'schizo-affective psychoses' prognostically of value?

The concept of 'schizo-affective psychoses' covers favourable as well as unfavourable forms of endogenous psychoses. Thus, it does not help us for a nosological classification which must also allow for the prognosis. In order to make a prognostic distinction we have to subdivide the schizo-affective psychoses into the 'cycloid psychoses' and the 'non-systematic schizophrenias'. Also the latter display affective symptoms and can take a bipolar course, but, despite this, tend to deterioration; they do so increasingly shift after shift, whereas the cycloid psychoses completely recover after every phase. Even during the first phase or shift a reliable differential diagnosis can be made. This has been confirmed by follow-up examinations, as the cycloid psychotics, in fact, had recovered. Only very few misdiagnoses could be detected. If we want to classify prognostically, we must separate the cycloid psychoses from the true schizophrenias.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1981

[What increases the probability of manifestation in hereditary schizophrenia?].

Hereditary causes are decisive for the development of unsystematic forms of schizophrenia. In periodic catatonia a dominant, and in affective paraphrenia a recessive hereditary succession must be assumed. In cataphasia, the findings do not give any clear information about the hereditary succession. In all three forms, considerable variations of the manifestations are found. Imperative indications have been observed suggesting that the brother-and-sister constellations, which have scientifically been too much neglected, have an essential share in these phenomena. In periodic catatonia, the lack of brothers and sisters and in particular a lack of elder sisters proved to be an essential factor. Affective paraphrenics frequently are the youngest of the brothers and sisters in a family. An attempt has been made to give an explanation of these findings. Further external influences proved to be essential. In persons suffering from cataphasia, for example, the origin from rural districts and, on the other hand, the origin from a large town seem to play a role.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

[The origin of cycloid psychoses].

Hereditary affliction with psychosis is not a marked phenomenon in cycloid psychoses, it is, however, found that parents may promote the outbreak of the disease by their abnormal behaviour. Of greater importance are causes which--unlike other forms of endogenic psychosis--develop their effect in infancy. Inharmonious constellations among brothers and sisters have been found to be essential. It has been proved that in the physiological and psychic development of man the mutual influence of children plays an important role. Paying more attention to the influence exerted by the parents, especially the mother, this law has been overlooked until now. The constellations of brothers and sisters, which are of course an everyday phenomenon, are not effective in themselves, but will only become effective when they coincide in a specific manner with temperaments that in their nature show a certain relationship with psychoses. On the other hand, physical influences do exist in a form that is found in no other type of the so-called endogenous psychoses. As regards their quite peculiar genesis, the demarkation of the cycloid psychoses from the unsystematic forms of schizophrenia, which are mainly hereditary, is indispensable. In the term "schizo-affective psychoses" of the WHO the two forms are unfortunately mixed up.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Contradictory issues in the origin of schizophrenia.

In research into the origin of schizophrenia discrepancies repeatedly arise through the habit of treating schizophrenia as an entity. If independent subforms are differentiated, many ambiguities can be cleared up. A special form of catatonia (periodic catatonia) seems to be transmitted by dominant inheritance, a special paraphrenia (affective paraphrenia) recessively. In a large group of schizophrenias (systematic schizophrenias) with a poor outcome family histories of psychosis were rarely found, but examination of twins suggested a psychosocial origin for the disorder. In cycloid psychoses with a benign outcome family histories of psychosis were also seldom found. Only by diagnostic separations can the discrepancies in the field of schizophrenia be solved.

Diseases in Twins↗
PubMed1979

Can schizophrenic be prevented? Empirical results obtained by the examination of schizophrenic twins and schizophrenic children.

Concrete findings indicate the possibility of preventing schizophrenia, but it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the findings only relate to certain forms of theillness. Schizophrenias running an insidiously progressive course could very seldom be obsserved in monozygotic twins. So these pairs provide evidence that forms with this course can be prevented. It is to be supposed that the close communication usually found in identical twins, prevents withdrawal from environment and in consequence prevents schizophrenia. This assumption seems to be confirmed by our observation in insidiously progressive childhood schizophrenias which accumulate in only children and sometimes break out already in early childhood while the infants, staying in a hospital or a home, are suffering lack of communication. So it seems possible to prevent these forms of schizophrenia when we succeed in providing a close contact of the child and the adolescent with an intimate friend who directs his thinking outwards and protects him from withdrawal. But, unfortunately, in cases with phasic course the provoking factors correlate with the factors preventing the insidiously progressive forms. However, in detail, not quite the same factors prevent the one forms as precipitate the others, so that we can avoid doing harm simultaneously when we succeed in doing good. Besides, we must take account of the fact that some schizophrenias running a remitting course, especially periodic catatonia, are of hereditary origin and cannot be prevent psychosocially.

Catatonia↗
PubMed1979

[Hereditary and psychosocial causes of schizophrenia].

On the basis of the examination of patients with endogenic psychosis, indications were obtained that there are forms that mainly develop on a hereditary basis, and forms determined by psychosocial causes. In unsystematic schizophrenia the chief factors are hereditary, above all in periodic catatonia. On the other hand, there are a few indications of a hereditary genesis in systematic schizophrenia although it is just these forms that are distinguished by the severity of their course. By studying twins, cases of schizophrenia in infancy, and the circumstances of brothers and sisters, strong indications of psychosocial causes of systematic schizophrenia were found. Lack of contacts in the course of development appears to the determing factor. In motility psychosis, one of the cycloid psychoses, indications were found that excessive encouragement by other children can be a cause of overstrain and thus may be detrimental. The conclusions drawn are based on concrete findings obtained in a total of 1,114 cases and are for the most part statistically significant.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

[Therapeutic neglect omission of individual treatment of secondary defective developments].

The increasing application of group psychotherapy involves the danger that secondary defective developments which cannot be cured within the group, will be neglected. For these, a specific psychotherapy is necessary and particularly urgent since these cases show a tendency towards becoming chronic. Such cases include obsessional neurosis, situation phobia, nosophobia, occupation neurosis, expectation neurosis, psychogenic impotence, anorexia nervosa, and compulsive vomiting. Secondary defective developments in the majority part of patients who consult a psychotherapist. As fear neuroses, they have to be separated from wishful neurosis (hysterical neurosis). There is an urgent need for psychotherapists to be trained and given continued training in the treatment of secondary defective developments so as to be able to treat such patients.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1978

Can childhood schizophrenia develop out of hospitalism?

Out of 59 childhood schizophrenics examined, 11 had fallen ill as early as within the first years of their lives. Seven of these had been confined to a hospital or a similar institution when the illness set in. Two other children were congenitally blind or deaf and, owing to this fact, were largely deprived of communication with their environment. It was possible to diagnose schizophrenia even though the patients were mentally retarded. It seems that lack of communication within the first years of life can not only produce mental retardation but also provoke childhood schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

[Significance of sibling constellations for the origin of systematic schizophrenias (author's transl)].

In previous examinations of twins the author found that, surprisingly, "systematic schizophrenias" did not occur in identical twins, whereas they did in binovular twins. Even though the term systematic schizophrenia may not be accepted, the results, in any case, remain valid because they are based on a classification that had been defined and described prior to the present investigation. From the findings in twins the question arised as to whether the constellation of siblings who are not twins might also be significant in preventing the outbreak of systematic schizophrenias. Therefore, in a sample of 500 patients examined earlier we stated how many siblings, older siblings, younger siblings, brothers, sisters were to be found in systematic schizophrenias and their special types. There were many findings, in part being statistically significant, in part suggesting, at least, that they be taken into consideration. As a result of the findings it seems clear that sibling constellations are important for the origin of systematic schizophrenias. Thus, whereas psychosocial factors proved prominent, we found the heredity rate especially low in these forms of schizophrenia.

Age Factors↗