Karl Bonhoeffer and the concept of Symptomatic psychoses

Abstract

With the description and classification of Symptomatic psychoses in 1908, Karl Bonhoeffer laid the foundation for a categorization into exogenous and endogenous psychoses. This opened new pathogenic and psychopathologic horizons in connection with the aetiology of psychoses, as was particularly exemplified by Bonhoeffer in the 'catatonic psychoses'. Later, his concept of Symptomatic psychoses was further developed. Especially the symptom of an impaired consciousness as a diagnostic criterion in delirium underwent a critical discussion. However, Bonhoeffer's basic positions have not even now lost their significance. They find their representation in a modified form in all of the recent classification systems ICD-10 and DSM-IV. The study of pathogenic, clinic-psychopathologic, classificatory and therapeutic perspectives in detail, following Bonhoeffer's example, remains an important task for neuropsychiatry in the present as well as the future.