Endogenous Psychoses
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Endogenous psychoses are mental diseases arising from internal bodily causes rather than external factors, primarily including manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, genuine epilepsy, and paranoia. The term is used conditionally, recognizing that external factors often trigger these conditions in predisposed individuals.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
Endogenous Psychoses, mental diseases that arise due to causes inherent in the organism itself, rather than from the effects of external factors. At present, this group exclusively includes diseases whose cause is hereditary predisposition: manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, genuine epilepsy, paranoia. However, when applying the name E. p. to these forms, one must not forget that it by no means signifies the absence of external factors among the conditions that contributed to the development of the disease; more often, on the contrary, it happens that in the presence of predisposition, the mental disorder erupts only when some external factor or their combination disrupts the existing unstable mental equilibrium. Thus, the understanding of 'endogenous' in modern psychiatry is extremely conditional.
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Cite this page
“Endogenous Psychoses.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/endogenous-psychoses/