Kaufmann

Kaufmann Eduard (Eduard Kaufmann, born 1860), prominent German pathologist. After graduating from the University of Berlin (1884), he served as an assistant to Recklinghausen in Strasbourg and v. Ponfick in Breslau. From 1898, K. was professor of pathology and director of the pathological institute in Göttingen. Among his numerous scientific investigations, K.'s works on mercurial poisoning, pathological anatomy, fetal chondrodystrophy, and the pathological anatomy of prostate tumors are of greater significance. His widely reprinted and translated textbook on pathological anatomy, remarkable for both the completeness of its exposition and the inclusion of an extensive bibliography list, is widely known («Spezielle pathologische Anatomie», 7th and 8th ed., V. I-II, B.-Lpz., 1928-29).

Kaufmann's Method (M. Kaufmann), one form of psychotherapy, proposed by M. Kaufmann and Kehrer (F. Kehrer) and conducted during the 1914-1918 war in German hospitals, consisting in the treatment of war traumatic neuroses by means of vigorous and painful faradization. The therapeutic factor in this method is indirect suggestion associated with anxious expectation colored by a strong affect of fear. Indication for the application of Kaufmann's method is the presence of such massive hysterical symptoms as paralysis, astasia-abasia, muteness, deafness, etc. For the completeness of therapeutic effect, some preparation is necessary, consisting in that a certain period of expectation in the appropriate setting, for example in the reception room or hospital corridor, where deliberate stories about previous cases of healing are told, precedes the treatment session. The session itself is arranged as solemnly as possible: the patient is brought to an impressively furnished room resembling an operating room and is completely undressed and laid on the table. Then (sometimes after a demonstrative injection of some indifferent substance) the doctor declares in a decisive and unequivocal tone that the treatment will be painful, but the disease will be cured immediately, in one session. The motor of the pantostat is turned on and the faradic current is started, all measures being taken to excite in the patient the idea of the extremely energetic action of the latter. The place of application of the current is chosen either the diseased limb or generally the most sensitive part of the body (for example, the inguinal region). Loud orders are given to orderlies to hold the patient more firmly. With sufficient suggestiveness of this procedure, the application of a medium-strength current proves sufficient, since the patient is already brought into strong excitement by the setting itself. Finally, by a commanding shout (in the tone of a command) he is required to immediately perform the previously absent function (to stand up, walk, speak, etc.). The slightest indication of the latter (for example, muscle twitching from the action of the current) is immediately and demonstratively emphasized as a sign of beginning improvement. If the effect is insufficient, the current is used again and again, each time the patient being ordered to perform more and more energetic actions until a more or less impeccable result is achieved. The psychological process caused by this entire procedure amounts to the diversion of affective tension from its pathological direction (to the exclusion of the absent function) toward fear of pain and violence, and the associated energetic suggestion, not finding on its path the previously insurmountable resistance, without particular difficulty restores normal functioning. K.m. is applicable by no means to all patients and not in any setting. The best results it gave under the conditions of the strict discipline prevailing during the war and in relation to people with a more or less primitive or excessively weakened psyche. In peacetime conditions it is indicated only in some exceptional cases of monosymptomatic hysteria.