Otto Ludwig Binswanger (; ; 14 October 1852 in Scherzingen,
Münsterlingen
Münsterlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.
History
In 1994 the municipality was created from Landschlacht and Scherzingen.Kreuzlingen) was a Swiss psychiatrist and
neurologist
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
who came from a famous family of physicians; his father was founder of the Kreuzlingen Sanatorium, and he was uncle to
Ludwig Binswanger
Ludwig Binswanger (; ; 13 April 1881 – 5 February 1966) was a Swiss psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of existential psychology. His parents were Robert Johann Binswanger (1850–1910) and Bertha Hasenclever (1847–1896). Robert's Ger ...
(1881–1966) who was a major figure in the
existential psychology
Existential psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on concepts that are universally applicable to human existence incl ...
movement. He was brother-in-law to
physiotherapist
Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patien ...
Heinrich Averbeck (1844–1889). Other notable family members include his son-in-law Hans-Constantin Paulssen (1892-1984), who was the first president of the BDA (Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände) (
Confederation of German Employers' Associations
The Confederation of German Employers' Associations or BDA (German: ''Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände'') is the umbrella organization for German employers' associations. It represents interest groups in the areas of industry, ...
).
Biography
Otto studied medicine at
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, Strasbourg and Zurich, and beginning in 1877, worked under Ludwig Meyer (1827–1900) in the psychiatric clinic at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
. He was later associated with the pathological institute in Breslau, and in 1880 was appointed chief physician under
Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal
Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal (23 March 1833, in Berlin – 27 January 1890, in Kreuzlingen) was a German psychiatrist from Berlin. He was the son of Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal (1800–1879) and Karoline Friederike Heine and the father of Alexa ...
(1833–1890) in the psychiatric and neurological clinic at Charité Hospital in Berlin. From 1882 until 1919, he was a professor and director of psychology at the
University of Jena
The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany.
The un ...
. At Jena he worked with several young neurologists that included Theodor Ziehen (1862–1950),
Oskar Vogt
Oskar Vogt (6 April 1870, in Husum – 30 July 1959, in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German physician and neurologist. He and his wife Cécile Vogt-Mugnier are known for their extensive cytoarchetectonic studies on the brain.
Personal life
He w ...
(1870–1959),
Korbinian Brodmann
Korbinian Brodmann (17 November 1868 – 22 August 1918) was a German neurologist who became famous for mapping the cerebral cortex and defining 52 distinct regions, known as Brodmann areas, based on their cytoarchitectonic (histological) char ...
(1868–1918), and
Hans Berger
Hans Berger (21 May 1873 – 1 June 1941) was a German psychiatrist. He is best known as the inventor of electroencephalography (EEG) in 1924, which is a method used for recording the electrical activity of the brain, commonly described in terms ...
(1873–1941).Psychiatry Online (biography) In 1911 he attained the title of
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
at the university.
Binswanger wrote over 100 publications, most notably on
epilepsy
Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...
,
neurasthenia
Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...
and hysteria. His 1899 textbook on epilepsy (''Die Epilepsie'') became a standard in the profession. In his
histopathological
Histopathology (compound of three Greek words: ''histos'' "tissue", πάθος ''pathos'' "suffering", and -λογία ''-logia'' "study of") refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease. Spec ...
research he sought to explain similarities and differences between progressive paralysis and other types of organic brain disease.
With neurologist
Ernst Siemerling
Ernst Siemerling (September 9, 1857 – January 6, 1931) was a German neurologist and psychiatrist born in Müssow near Greifswald.
In 1882 he obtained his medical doctorate from the University of Marburg. In 1883-84 he was an assistant at ...
(1857-1931), he was co-author of an influential textbook on psychiatry titled ''Lehrbuch der Psychiatrie'' (1904).
In 1894 he described a condition he called " encephalitis subcorticalis chronica progressiva", which would later go by the name of "
Binswanger's disease
Binswanger's disease, also known as subcortical leukoencephalopathy and subcortical arteriosclerotic encephalopathy, is a form of small-vessel vascular dementia caused by damage to the white brain matter. White matter atrophy can be caused by man ...
". This disease is defined as subcortical
dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
characterized by loss of memory and intellectual faculties. One of his more famous patients was German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
, others were the writers (later on)
Hans Fallada
Hans Fallada (; born Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen; 21 July 18935 February 1947) was a German writer of the first half of the 20th century. Some of his better known novels include '' Little Man, What Now?'' (1932) and ''Every Man Dies Alone'' ...