"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.
Journal of the history of the behavioral sciences July 1, 2024 Jan Kornaj
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.