"It's a fight - the whole personality of the patient to win." The development of concepts of psychosis in the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw, 1898-1943.

Summary

The development of concepts of psychosis at the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw evolved through several phases from 1898 to 1943, shaped by European psychiatric ideas and local social and historical changes. Initially, first chief physician Adam Wizel focused on hysteria, while Maurycy Bornsztajn later introduced psychoanalytic perspectives. In the second decade, classification of psychoses became central; after Poland regained independence, psychosis became the main focus. Gustaw Bychowski and Władysław Matecki advanced psychoanalytic understanding, Bornsztajn developed his concept of psychosis, and Władysław Sterling contributed to biological views of schizophrenia. In the final period, economic crisis and staff departures reduced publications, but Bornsztajn refined his concept of somatopsychic schizophrenia and Matecki introduced pseudo-neurotic schizophrenia. The psychoanalytic approach was supplemented by phenomenology, and several physicians advocated psychoanalytic psychotherapy for psychotic patients.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study investigates the development of concepts of psychosis in the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw, within the context of social and historical processes to which the hospital was the subject and a broader scope of European concepts of psychosis. In the years 1898-1909, the first chief physician of the psychiatric ward, Adam Wizel, focused mainly on hysteria. The interest in psychoses was initiated by Maurycy Bornsztajn, who started to promote psychoanalytic ideas. The second decade of the functioning of the Jewish Hospital's psychiatric ward was marked by issues concerning the classification of psychoses. In the third decade, after Poland regained independence, psychosis became the main focus of the hospital's staff. Newly appointed psychiatrists, Gustaw Bychowski and Władysław Matecki, contributed substantially to the psychoanalytic understanding of psychosis. Bornsztajn continued to develop his psychoanalytically based concept of psychosis. Wizel changed his attitude toward psychoanalysis and acknowledged the importance of Freud's discoveries. Władysław Sterling contributed to the biological understanding of schizophrenia. In the last period, 1931-1943, the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw struggled with the consequences of the economic crisis in Poland, Wizel's death, and Bychowski's departure, which resulted in the reduced number of publications in the field of psychosis. Nevertheless, Bornsztajn managed to further develop his concept of somatopsychic schizophrenia and Matecki introduced the category of pseudo-neurotic schizophrenia. The psychoanalytic approach developed by Wizel, Bornsztajn, Bychowski, and Matecki was supplemented with other influences, especially phenomenology. Wizel, Bychowski, and Matecki were advocates of the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of psychotic patients.