Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum (28 December 1828 – 15 April 1899) was a

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psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

Life and career

In 1855 he received his medical doctorate at

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, and subsequently worked as a physician at the mental asylum in

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. For a period he was also a lecturer at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

(1863–66), and from 1867 was director of the

mental hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with ...

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. He would remain at Görlitz for the remainder of his life. As a psychiatrist, Kahlbaum realized that attempting to group mental disorders based on similarities of outward symptoms was futile, and in his work tried to develop a classification system that grouped mental diseases according to their course and outcome. He is remembered for research done at Görlitz with his associate

Ewald Hecker Ewald Hecker (20 October 1843, Halle – 11 January 1909, Wiesbaden) 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 ...

(1843–1909) involving studies of young psychotic patients. In their analyses of mental disorders, Kahlbaum and Hecker introduced a classification system that used descriptive terms such as

dysthymia Dysthymia ( ), known as persistent depressive disorder (PDD) in the DSM-5-TR and dysthymic disorder in ICD-11, is a psychiatric condition marked by symptoms that are similar to those of major depressive disorder, but which persist for at leas ...

cyclothymia Cyclothymia (, ), also known as cyclothymic disorder, psychothemia / psychothymia, bipolar III, affective personality disorder and cyclothymic personality disorder, is a mental disorder, mental and Abnormal behaviour, behavioural Disease#Disorder ...

catatonia Catatonia is a complex syndrome most commonly seen in people with underlying mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder, or psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia. People with catatonia exhibit abnormal movement and behaviors, wh ...

paraphrenia Paraphrenia is a mental disorder characterized by an organized system of paranoid delusions with or without hallucinations (the positive symptoms of schizophrenia) and without deterioration of intellect or personality (its negative symptom).Alme ...

and

hebephrenia Disorganized schizophrenia, or hebephrenia, is an obsolete term for a subtype of schizophrenia. It is no longer recognized as a separate condition, following the publication of the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth E ...

. In their research they were pioneers in the application of modern clinical practices in the study of mental health. Kahlbaum referred to ''Jugendliche Irresein'' or "juvenile madness", and stressed the importance of parental upbringing to prevent this condition from occurring. In his research of catatonia, he published the

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

, ''Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein'', in which he characterizes the disorder as disturbance in motor functionality that represents a phase in a progressive illness that includes stages of mania, depression and

psychosis In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...

that typically ends in dementia. Kahlbaum's work would in time influence German psychiatrist

Emil Kraepelin Emil Wilhelm Georg Magnus Kraepelin (; ; 15 February 1856 – 7 October 1926) was a German psychiatrist. H. J. Eysenck's Encyclopedia of Psychology identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology and psychiatric ...

. Strictly speaking however Kahlbaum's catatonia is not, as is commonly believed, the same as the catatonia found in Emil Kraepelin's concept of

dementia praecox Dementia praecox (meaning a "premature dementia" or "precocious madness") is a disused psychiatric diagnosis that originally designated a chronic, deteriorating psychotic disorder characterized by rapid cognitive disintegration, usually beginnin ...

. Rather, as Adolf Meyer would later complain with respect to dementia praecox, "Kahlbaum's catatonia was liberally extended so as to include everything that showed

catalepsy Catalepsy (from Ancient Greek , , "seizing, grasping") is a neurological condition characterized by muscular rigidity and fixity of posture regardless of external stimuli, as well as decreased sensitivity to pain. Signs and symptoms Sympt ...

, negativism, automatism,

stereotypy A stereotypy (, ) is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing, crossing and uncrossing of legs, and marching in place. They are foun ...

, and verbigeration" (Meyer, 1910, p. 276). As the 20th century came to its close, the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 39,200 members who are in ...

(APA) would declare that occurrences of catatonia were, by 1987, rare (APA, 1987). The eponymous "Kahlbaum's syndrome" is a catatonic symptom characterized by continuous and purposeless rhythmic repetition of words and sentences that are meaningless or insignificant (echolalia).Kahlbaum's syndrome II
at

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Scientific works

* ''"De avium tractus alimentarii anatomia et histologia nonnulla"''. (Doctoral dissertation), Berlin, 1854. * * * ''"Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein"'', 1874. * ''"Über jugendliche Nerven– und Gemütskranke und ihre pädagogische Behandlung in der Anstalt"''. In Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie, Berlin, 1884, H. 44. * ''"Die klinisch-diagnostischen Gesichtspunkte der Pathologie"''; In Volkmann's Sammlung klinischer Vorträge, Leipzig, 1878, Nr. 126.

Notes

References

* Lanczik, M. (1992). ''Karl Kahlbaum (1828–1899) and the Emergence of Psychopathological and Nosological Research in German psychiatry. History of Psychiatry 3'' * Meyer, A. (1910). ''The nature and conception of dementia praecox. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 5(5), 247–285.'' * American Psychiatric Association (1987). ''The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd Rev. ed.). Washington, DC: Author''
Masters of the mind
by Theodore Millon, Seth Grossman, Sarah E. Meagher

at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahlbaum, Karl 1828 births 1899 deaths People from Drezdenko German psychiatrists Physicians from the Province of Brandenburg Leipzig University alumni University of Würzburg alumni University of Königsberg alumni Academic staff of the University of Königsberg Humboldt University of Berlin alumni History of psychiatry Prussian physicians 19th-century German physicians