Cases in this study have been coded to permit follow-up investigations. A critical-historical attitude should be especially maintained if one looks at Alzheimer's dementia, Alzheimer's famous ''discovery''. Many of today's psychiatrists would assume that the description of Alzheimer's disease was the scientific climax of Alzheimer's professional life and the ultimate aim of his research. However, this view is the result of our modern knowledge. Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Schizophrenia is typically a catastrophic illness that begins in adolescence or early adulthood.
Although severe psychotic disorders have been recognized for centuries, as evidenced by descriptions in medical writings and literary portrayals, the classification of psychotic disorders into specific forms such as manic-depressive illness or schizophrenia only occurred approximately one hundred years ago. But in this respect, Kraepelin s program largely failed. By focusing on the course of illness, in the absence of definitive knowledge of pathology or etiology, Kraepelin hoped to put the psychiatric nosology on a firmer scientific basis. In the final analysis, however, information about course is not particularly useful in diagnosing a patient who is in the acute stage of mental illness. When compared to the four principles that Wilson asserted as fitting Meyer s biopsychosocial approach to psychopathology, the assumptions of the neo-Kraepelinians represented a distinctly different approach.