Ewald Hecker
Encyclopedia
Ewald Hecker was a German psychiatrist
who was an important figure in the early days of modern psychiatry
. He is known for research done with his mentor, psychiatrist Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum
(1828-1899).
In the early 1870s Kahlbaum and Hecker did a series of studies on young psychotic
patients at Kahlbaum's clinic in Gorlitz
, Prussia. Together they provided clinical analyses of the mentally ill, and arranged their disorders into specific, descriptive categories. It was during this period that Hecker developed the concepts of hebephrenia and cyclothymia
. He described hebephrenia as a disorder that begins in adolescence with erratic behaviour followed by a rapid decline of all mental functions, and cyclothymia as a cyclical mood disorder.
The pioneering research of Kahlbaum and Hecker proposed the existence of more than one discrete psychiatric disorder, which contrasted with the concept of "unitary psychosis
" that maintained all psychiatric symptoms were manifestations of a single mental disorder.
Hecker had progressive ideas concerning treatment of the mentally ill, and was an advocate in establishing a humane environment for mental patients. In 1891 he purchased a private psychiatric hospital in Wiesbaden
.
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
who was an important figure in the early days of modern psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
. He is known for research done with his mentor, psychiatrist Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum
Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum
Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum was a German psychiatrist. In 1855 he received his medical doctorate at Berlin, and subsequently worked as a physician at the mental asylum in Wehlau. For a period of time he was also a lecturer at the University of Königsberg , and from 1867 was director of the mental...
(1828-1899).
In the early 1870s Kahlbaum and Hecker did a series of studies on young psychotic
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
patients at Kahlbaum's clinic in Gorlitz
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
, Prussia. Together they provided clinical analyses of the mentally ill, and arranged their disorders into specific, descriptive categories. It was during this period that Hecker developed the concepts of hebephrenia and cyclothymia
Cyclothymia
Cyclothymia is a mood and mental disorder in the bipolar spectrum that causes both hypomanic and depressive episodes. It is defined medically within the bipolar spectrum and consists of recurrent disturbances between sudden hypomania and dysthymic episodes. The diagnosis of cyclothymic disorder is...
. He described hebephrenia as a disorder that begins in adolescence with erratic behaviour followed by a rapid decline of all mental functions, and cyclothymia as a cyclical mood disorder.
The pioneering research of Kahlbaum and Hecker proposed the existence of more than one discrete psychiatric disorder, which contrasted with the concept of "unitary psychosis
Unitary psychosis
Unitary psychosis refers to the 19th-century belief prevalent in German psychiatry until the era of Emil Kraepelin that all forms of psychosis were surface variations of a single underlying disease process...
" that maintained all psychiatric symptoms were manifestations of a single mental disorder.
Hecker had progressive ideas concerning treatment of the mentally ill, and was an advocate in establishing a humane environment for mental patients. In 1891 he purchased a private psychiatric hospital in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
.
Resources
- On the Origin of the Clinical Standpoint in Psychiatry: By Dr Ewald Hecker in Görlitz
- American Journal of Psychiatry, Ewald Hecker
- Ewald Hecker: Cyclothymia, a Circular Mood Disorder History of Psychiatry DOI: 10.1177/0957154X030143007