Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:53:06.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The genealogy of the clinical syndrome of mania: signs and symptoms described in psychiatric texts from 1880 to 1900

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2017

K. S. Kendler*
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: K. S. Kendler, M.D., (E-mail: [email protected])

Abstract

In 1800, mania was conceptualized as an agitated psychotic state. By 1900, it closely resembled its modern form. This paper reviews the descriptions of mania in Western psychiatry from 1880 to 1900, when Kraepelin was training and developing his concept of manic-depressive illness. Psychiatric textbooks published 1900–1960 described 22 characteristic manic symptoms/signs the presence of which were recorded in 25 psychiatric textbooks and three other key documents published 1880–1900. Descriptions of mania in these nineteenth century textbooks closely resembled those in the twentieth century, recording a mean (s.d.) of 15.9 (2.3) and 17.0 (2.3) of the characteristic symptoms, respectively (p = 0.12). The frequency with which individual symptoms were reported was substantially correlated in these two periods (r = +0.64). Mendel's 1881 monograph, Kraepelin's first description of mania in 1883 and the entry for mania in Tuke's Dictionary of Psychological Medicine (1892) described a mean (s.d.) of 19 (1.7) of these characteristic symptoms. These descriptions of mania often contained phenomenologically rich descriptions of euphoria, hyperactivity, grandiosity, flight of ideas, and poor judgment. They also emphasized several features not in DSM criteria including changes in character, moral standards and physical appearance, and increased sense of humor and sexual drive. Fifteen authors described key symptoms/signs of mania most reporting elevated mood, motoric hyperactivity and accelerated mental processes. By 1880, the syndrome of mania had been largely stabilized in its modern form. In the formation of his concept of manic-depressive illness, Kraepelin utilized the syndrome of mania as described in the psychiatric community in which he was trained.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd Edn. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fifth Edition, DSM-5. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Berkley, HJ (1900) A Treatise on Mental Diseases. New York: D. Appleton and Company.Google Scholar
Berrios, GE (1982) History of the affective disorders. In Paykel, ES (ed) Handbook of Affective Disorders. London, UK: Churchill Livingstone, pp. 4356Google Scholar
Berrios, GE (1988) Depressive and manic states during the nineteenth century. In Georgotas, A and Cancro, R (eds), Depression and Mania. New York, NY: Elsevier, pp. 1325.Google Scholar
Berrios, GE (2004) Of mania: introduction (classic text no. 57). History of Psychiatry 15, 105124.Google Scholar
Blandford, GF (1886) Insanity and Its Treatment Lectures on The Treatment, Medical and Legal, of Insane Patients, 3rd Edn. New York: William Wood and Company.Google Scholar
Bucknill, JC and Tuke, DH (1858) A Manual of Psychological Medicine: The History, Nosology, Description, Statistics, Diagnosis, Pathology, and Treatment of Insanity. Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burr, CB (1894) A Primer of Psychology and Mental Disease. Detroit, MI: George S. Davis.Google Scholar
Chapin, JB (1898) A Compendium of Insanity. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.Google Scholar
Church, A and Peterson, F (1900) Nervous and Mental Diseases, 2nd Edn. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.Google Scholar
Clark, AC (1897) Clinical Manual of Mental Diseases: For Practitioners and Students. London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox.Google Scholar
Clark, D (1892) Notes on Mental Diseases: By a Student. Toronto: Toronto University Medical College.Google Scholar
Clouston, TS (1884) Clinical Lectures on Mental Diseases, 1st Edn. Philadelphia, PA: Henry C. Lea's Son & CO. (Dornan).Google Scholar
Engstrom, EJ (2003) Clinical Psychiatry in Imperial Germany: A History of Psychiatric Practice. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Feighner, JP, Robins, E, Guze, SB, Woodruff, RA Jr., Winokur, G and Munoz, R (1972) Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry 26, 5763.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folsom, CF (1886) Mental Diseases, 5th volume. Boston: American System of Medicine.Google Scholar
Goldstein, J (1987) Console and Classify: The French Psychiatric Profession in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gray, LC (1893) A Treatise on Nervous and Mental Diseases for Students and Practitioners of Medicine. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Company.Google Scholar
Hammond, WA (1883) A Treatise on Insanity in its Medical Relations. New York: D. Appleton and Company.Google Scholar
Healy, D (2008) Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, SA and Laugharne, R (2003) Mania, dementia and melancholia in the 1870s: admissions to a Cornwall asylum. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 96, 361363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hudgens, RW, Morrison, JR and Barchha, RG (1967) Life events and onset of primary affective disorders. A study of 40 hospitalized patients and 40 controls. Archives of General Psychiatry 16, 134145.Google Scholar
Kellogg, TH (1897) A Text-Book on Mental Diseases for the use of Students and Practitioners of Medicine. New York, NY: William Wood & Company.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS (2016a) The clinical features of mania and their representation in modern diagnostic criteria. Psychological Medicine 47, 10131029.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS (2016b) The phenomenology of major depression and the representativeness and nature of DSM criteria. American Journal of Psychiatry 173, 771780.Google Scholar
Kirchhoff, T (1893) Handbook of Insanity for Practitioners and Students. New York: William Wood & Company.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E (1883) Compendium der Psychiatrie: Zum Gebrauche für Studirende und Aerzte Verlag von Ambr. Leipzig: Abel.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E (1887) Psychiatrie: Ein kurzes Lehrbuch für Studirende un Aerzte, 2nd Edn. Leipzig: Abel.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E (1889) Psychiatrie: Ein kurzes Lehrbuch für Studirende un Aerzte, 3rd Edn. Leipzig: J.A. Barth.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E (1893) Psychiatrie: Ein kurzes Lehrbuch für Studirende un Aerzte, 4th Edn. Leipzig: Abel.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E (1896) Psychiatrie: Ein Lehrbuch fur Studirende und Aerzte, 5th Edn. Leipzig: Barth.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E (1987) Memoirs/Emil Kraepelin. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E (1899) Psychiatrie: Ein Lehrbuch fur Studierende und Aerzte (6th Ed. 2 Vols.), 6th Edn. Leipzig: von Barth Verlag.Google Scholar
Krafft-Ebing, RV (1905) Text-book of Insanity: Based on Clinical Observations. For Practitioners and Students of Medicine. (Authorized Translation from the Last German Edition by Charles Gilbert Chaddock, MD). Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company.Google Scholar
Lewis, WB (1899) A Text-Book of Mental Diseases: With Special Reference to The Pathological Aspects of Insanity, 2nd Edn. London: Charles Griffin and Company, Limited.Google Scholar
Luys, J (1881) Traité Clinique et Pratique Des Maladies Mentales. Paris: Adrien Delahaye et Émile Lecrosnier, Éditeurs.Google Scholar
Machado-Vieira, R, Luckenbaugh, DA, Ballard, ED, Henter, ID, Tohen, M, Suppes, T and Zarate, CA Jr. (2017) Increased activity or energy as a primary criterion for the diagnosis of bipolar mania in DSM-5: findings from the STEP-BD study. American Journal of Psychiatry 174, 7076.Google Scholar
Macpherson, J (1899) Mental Affections: An Introduction to the Study of Insanity. London: Macmillan and Company.Google Scholar
Maudsley, H (1895) The Pathology of Mind: A Study of Its Distempers, Deformities, and Disorders. London: Macmillan and Company.Google Scholar
Mendel, E (1881) Die Manie: Eine Monographie. Leipzig: Urban & Schwarzenberg.Google Scholar
Monro, H (1856) On the nomenclature of the various forms of insanity. British Journal of Psychiatry 2, 286305.Google Scholar
Morison, A (1828) Cases of Mental Disease, with Practical Observation on The Medical Treatment: For The Use of Students. Edinburgh: Maclachlan & Stewart.Google Scholar
Noll, R (2011) American Madness: The Rise and Fall of Dementia Praecox. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pinel, PH (1806) A Treatise on Insanity, in Which are Contained The Principles of a New and More Practical Nosology of Maniacal Disorders. Sheffield: Printed by W. Todd for Messrs. London: Cadell and Davies, Strand.Google Scholar
Potts, CS (1900) Nervous and Mental Diseases: A Manual for Students and Practitioners. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Company.Google Scholar
Régis, E (1895) A Practical Manual of Mental Medicine, 2nd Edn. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Company.Google Scholar
Salgó, J (1889) Compendium Der Psychiatrie Für Praktische Aerzte Und Studierende. Wein: Verlag Von Bermann & Altmann (Alleiniger, Inhaber David Bermann).Google Scholar
Savage, GH (1884) Insanity and Allied Neuroses: Practical and Clinical. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's Son & Company.Google Scholar
Scholz, F (1892) Lehrbuch der Irrenheilkunde: Für Aerzte und Studirende. Leipzig: Eduard Heinrich Mayer (Einhorn & Jäger).Google Scholar
Schüle, H (1880) Handbuch Der Geisteskrankheiten. Leipzig: Verlag Von F.C.W. Vogel.Google Scholar
Scull, A, MacKensie, C and Hervey, N (1996) Masters of Bedlam: The Transformation of the Mad Doctoring Trade, 1st Edn. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Shaw, JC (1894) Essentials of Nervous Diseases and Insanity: Their Symptoms and Treatment. A Manual for Students and Practitioners, 2nd Edn, revised ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.Google Scholar
Spitzer, RL, Endicott, J and Robins, E (1975) Research Diagnostic Criteria for a Selected Group of Functional Disorders, 2nd Edn. New York: New York Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Spitzka, EC (1883) Insanity: Its Classification, Diagnosis and Treatment, A Manual for Students and Practitioners of Medicine, 1st Edn. New York, NY: Bermingham & Company.Google Scholar
Stearns, HP (1893) Lectures on Mental Diseases: Designed Especially for Medical Students and General Practitioners. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Company.Google Scholar
Trede, K, Salvatore, P, Baethge, C, Gerhard, A, Maggini, C and Baldessarini, RJ (2005) Manic-depressive illness: evolution in Kraepelin's textbook, 1883–1926. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 13, 155178.Google Scholar
Tuke, DH (1892) A Dictionary of Psychological Medicine: Giving the Definition, Etymology and Synonyms of the Terms Used in Medical Psychology. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Company.Google Scholar
von Krafft-Ebing, R (1881) Lehrbuch der Gerichtlichen Psychopathologie (mit Berücksichtigung Der Gesetzgebung Von Österreich, Deutschland Und Frankreich), 2nd Edn. Stuttgart: Verlag Von Ferdinand Enke.Google Scholar
Wernicke, C (2015) An Outline of Psychiatry in Clinical Lectures: The Lectures of Carl Wernicke (Translated by Robert Miller and John Dennison), 1st Edn. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Kendler supplementary material

Kendler supplementary material 1

Download Kendler supplementary material(File)
File 27.3 KB
Supplementary material: File

Kendler supplementary material

Kendler supplementary material 2

Download Kendler supplementary material(File)
File 47.1 KB