Griesinger

Griesinger, Wilhelm (Wilhelm Grie- singer, 1817-68), outstanding German neuropsychiatrist whose activity must be considered a turning point in the history of German psychiatry. G. appeared on the scientific scene during a period of complete confusion of opinions about the essence and origin of mental diseases, in the era of the famous dispute between "psychics" and "somatics", when the question was decided whether psychiatry should be a branch of general medicine (and therefore of natural science) or remain in the sphere of arbitrary speculations inspired by religious survivals and metaphysical philosophy. G. decisively adhered to a purely naturalistic worldview, the heralds of which in French psychiatry were the famous founders of this science—Pinel and Esquirol. G. was born in Stuttgart, studied medicine in Tübingen and Zurich, after which he furthered his studies in Paris and subsequently became professor of internal medicine, neuropathology, and psychiatry in several universities (Kiel, Tübingen, Berlin).-The main life's work of G.-"Pathology and Therapy of Mental Diseases" ("Pathologie und Therapie der psychi- schen Krankheiten", Stuttgart, 1845), reprinted many times (Russian ed.-St. Petersburg, 1867, 1874, 1880), can be called the first truly scientific guide to psychiatry, which had great influence far beyond Germany. G. became the exponent of 1) pathoanatomical and 2) reflexological directions in psychiatry. As early as 1843-44 in his works "Über psychische Reflex-Aktionen" (Archiv für physiologische Heilkunde, Band II, 1843) and "Neue Beiträge zur Physiologie und Pathologie des Gehirns" (ibid., Band III, 1844), Griesinger pointed to the reflex scheme as the formal basis of all human mental activity. The merits of G. in practical psychiatry were also great: he was an energetic fighter for the comprehensive improvement of hospital affairs and in particular for the complete abolition of all measures of physical violence against the patient (no-restraint system).