Psychopathies and Psychopathic Reactions: Concept of O. Bumke

Abstract

The changes in the concept of psychopathies and psychopathic reactions of the prominent German psychiatrist O. Bumke who in the first edition of his textbook (1919) was oriented on E. Kraepelin’s systematics of psychopathic personalities but included hysteric personality in psychopathies and tried to delineate the special type of “affectepileptoids” are analyzed. In the second edition of the Textbook (1924) O. Bumke subjected E. Kretschmer’s typology of schizoids and “prototypical” constitutional approach to psychopathies systematics to convincing criticism. In the third edition of the Textbook (1929) O. Bumke accepted partly “constitutional” approach and suggested his own typology of schizoid types among which he marked out fanatics, dissatisfied, emotionally cold and “enemies of the society”, and some originally described “tymopathic” types: “gentle egoists”, “gentle autists” and anxious. Other psychopathic types: paranoid, explosive, hysteric, dypso- and poriomans from O. Bumke’s point of view appeared on heterogenous constitutional ground. From the third edition of the Textbook O. Bumke separately described hysterical “attitude” underlining the meaning of environmental factors in the formation of hysterical personality, and two types of paranoic personality development: litigious and sensitive in O. Bumke’s comprehension were corresponding to paranoic “attitude”. The peculiarity of O. Bumke’s concept of psychopathies and psychopathic reactions was its accent on the prevalence of mixed and transitive forms in the clinical reality and corresponding impossibility for differentiation.