The Beginnings of Scientific Psychiatric Twin Research: Luxenburger’s 1928 “Preliminary Report on the Psychiatric Examination of a Series of Twins”

Abstract

Abstract While reports of twin pairs concordant for insanity began to appear in the 19th century, the first modern psychiatric twin study that fulfilled Galton’s 1875 promise of the value of the twin method was published by the German Psychiatrist and Geneticist Hans Luxenburger in 1928. Luxenburger introduced four major methodological advances: the use of representative sampling, proband-wise concordance, rigorous zygosity diagnoses, and age correction. He used a narrow Kraepelinian diagnostic approach diagnosis and ascertained twins hospitalized, on a specific day, in all large Bavarian asylums. We include a brief biography of Luxenburger, summarize the findings of his paper and provide a full English translation in the appendix. Luxenburger presents evidence that the frequency of twinning in those with severe mental illness were as expected and reports proband-wise concordance for probable and definite dementia praecox (MZ—76%, DZ—0%) and manic-depressive insanity (MZ—75%, DZ—0%). He also examined eccentricity and hyperthymic or hypothymic personality in the dementia praecox and manic-depressive pairs, respectively. Luxenburger’s substantial contributions to the history of psychiatric genetics should be considered in the context of his intimate but ambivalent relationship with the racial-hygiene policy of the German National Socialists.