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The characteristic signs and symptoms of mania and depression according to Kraepelin circa 1905: a comparison with DSM-III

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2020

Kenneth S. Kendler Open the ORCID record for Kenneth S. Kendler [Opens in a new window]
Kenneth S. Kendler*
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Kenneth S. Kendler, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Although the rise of operationalized diagnostic criteria and the creation of DSM-III were influenced in the USA by a neo-Kraepelinian ‘revival’ of interest in psychiatric nosology, Kraepelin was only a distal influence on the specific diagnostic criteria proposed. The historical origins of the DSM-III criteria for mania and major depression (MD) are traceable back to the 1950s and contain no direct link to Kraepelin's writings. George Dreyfus, a student and assistant to Kraepelin, authored in 1907 a monograph on Involutional Melancholia which reviewed cases seen by Kraepelin in Heidelberg. In this monograph, Dreyfus presents the ‘characteristic’ symptoms for mania and depression ‘as described by Kraepelin.’ This historical finding provides the unprecedented opportunity to examine the resemblance between the criteria proposed for mania and depression in DSM-III, inspired by Kraepelin's nosologic vision, and those specifically suggested by Kraepelin 73 years earlier. Kraepelin's symptoms and signs for mania paralleled seven of the eight DSM-III criteria (except the decreased need for sleep), with two not included in DSM-III (increased mental activity and short bursts of sadness). Kraepelin's signs and symptoms paralleled six of the nine DSM-III criteria for MD, lacking suicidal ideation and changes in appetite/weight and sleep but including obsessions, reduced expressive movements, and decreased mood responsiveness. Although Kraepelin's overall approach to mania and depression emphasized their close inter-relationship in the cyclic course of manic-depressive illness, it is noteworthy Kraepelin's ‘characteristic’ symptoms for mania and depression as described by Dreyfus, bear substantial but incomplete resemblance to the criteria proposed in DSM-III.

Keywords

DepressionDreyfusDSM-IIIhistoryKraepelinmania
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 51 , Issue 15 , November 2021 , pp. 2631 - 2636
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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