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PubMed1999

[Scientific psychology in the works of Eugen Bleuler].

The name of Eugen Bleuler is usually known in the context of the definition and conceptualization of schizophrenic disorders. Main other topics, less known in literature, are alcoholism, forensic psychiatry and general psychological topics of meaning of consclousness, formation of motive and will. Bleulers point of view presents itself as an empirically-based and anti-philosophic one, definitely deterministic concerning the topic of human "freedom of will". Eugen Bleuler refers to an already (especially by Richard Semon) systematically developed theory called "mnemism" that he interpreted and applied to the psychological circumstances mentioned above. That theory of "mnemism", that can be most adequately described as a biogenetic-vitalistic theory, is assuming, that all organic life--independent of the possibility of a self-reflecting consciousness--is able to learn experiences made by analysis of environment and to pass it on following generations. Pattern of stimulus reactions are in the sense of this theory memorized and reactivated under similar situational circumstances by the psychological mode of association. The influence of psychoanalytical theories, especially the presumed importance of infantil sexuality, on Bleulers understanding of a medical psychology seems to fade over the years.

Germany↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[About an exceptional case of congenital sternal fissure: Eugene Groux (1859)].

The congenital sternal fissure of Eugene Groux is outstanding in every respect: at first, it constitutes a sole case in history of medicine, for this fissure was complete (from the manubrium to the xiphoid process). Secondly, it was an object of medical examinations for over 2000 physicians all around the world. Thirdly, the patient himself wrote a monograph devoted to his malformation (1859). We analyze in this paper the monograph of Eugene Groux, as well as the anatomicomedical conclusions which followed this exceptional case.

Congenital Abnormalities↗
PubMed2006

[Associative disorder. On the relationship between the interpretation of disorder and society in the early writings of Eugen Bleuler].

Around 1900 the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler developed a new interpretative model of mental illnesses: schizophrenia. He named the breaking of associative threads of thought as the core symptom of the disorder. Shortly after the publication of his "Dementia Praecox or the Groups of Schizophrenias" in 1911, the concept quickly gained popularity outside the discipline of psychiatry. His contempories noticed early on the peculiar relationship that existed between the crisis diagnosed as schizophrenia and the broader societal "crisis of modernity" around 1900. The author shows in what ways this seeming relationship between the interpretation of the disorder and society was already preconfigured in Eugen Bleuler's early writings by reconstructing and contextualising his theory of schizophrenia as developed in the years from 1890 to 1910.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed1996

[Eugen Bleuler and Carl Gustav Jung's habilitation].

Eugen Bleuler's letter of recommendation for Carl Gustav Jung's appointment as a lecturer In January 1905, Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939) wrote a letter of recommendation to the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich, urging them to accept the application of Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) as a lecturer there. Bleuler's letter mentions the contribution to Jung's writing made by Franz Riklin (1878-1938), although he does not define it precisely. It is safe to say that, judging from the way in which Bleuler expresses his opinions in this letter, this may be regarded at the very least as an early sign of his receptiveness to the psychoanalytical ideas of the time.

Correspondence as Topic↗
PubMed1998

The life of Eugene Braunwald: a remarkable journey that began in Vienna.

The life of Dr. Eugene Braunwald, who is without doubt the preeminent cardiologist of our time, represents a remarkable journey that began in Vienna, Austria. It took an early and decisive turn in July 1938 when his family was forced into exile by Austrian Nazism, ultimately settling in the United States. During his career Dr. Braunwald has provided unprecedented contributions to the theory and practice of medicine, foremost in cardiovascular research and clinical cardiology. Professionally, his pursuit of excellence continues in the roles of physician-scientist, academic teacher, editor and administrator. Personally, Dr. Braunwald's voyage came full circle in the summer of 1995, some fifty seven years after his emigration, when the University of Vienna awarded him an honorary Medical Doctorate. This article reviews Dr. Eugene Braunwald's remarkable journey from his childhood in pre-World War II Vienna to the current titles of Distinguished Hersey Professor of Medicine and Faculty Dean for Academic Programs at Harvard Medical School and Vice President of Partner's HealthCare Systems in Boston, Massachusetts. This essay is also intended to raise awareness of, and foster academic investigation into, the long-lasting implications of Austrian Nazism on the "Viennese School of Medicine".

Austria↗
PubMed2002

Ectrodactyly and Germany's eugenics law of 14 July 1933.

The family reported herein serves as a genetically and historically important vignette on the issues of nonpenetrance (versus germinal mosaicism) in nonsyndromic autosomal dominant ectrodactyly and the Eugenics Law of Germany of 14 July 1933, which was used to coerce the sterilization of the propositus despite infertility in his first marriage. In a sibship of seven children (with normal parents), three boys were affected. The propositus (adoptive grandfather of the author) was the patient of Paul Leopold Friedrich and Georg Perthes, who published their observations on the propositus. Except for an adopted daughter, the propositus was childless. His two affected brothers each had an affected child, and the father- to son transmission confirmed the hypothesis of autosomal dominant inheritance. The issue of nonpenetrance versus germinal mosaicism in ectrodactyly was debated by Auerbach [1956:Ann Hum Genet 20:266-269] and Vogel [1958:Ann Hum Genet 22:132-137], and remains unresolved.

Eugenics↗
PubMed1997

The social and economic origins of genetic determinism: a case history of the American Eugenics Movement, 1900-1940 and its lessons for today.

Eugenics, the attempt to improve the genetic quality of the human species by 'better breeding', developed as a worldwide movement between 1900 and 1940. It was particularly prominent in the United States, Britain and Germany, and in those countries was based on the then-new science of Mendelian genetics. Eugenicists developed research programs to determine the degree in which traits such as Huntington's chorea, blindness, deafness, mental retardation (feeblemindedness), intelligence, alcoholism, schizophrenia, manic depression, rebelliousness, nomadism, prostitution and feeble inhibition were genetically determined. Eugenicists were also active in the political arena, lobbying in the United States for immigration restriction and compulsory sterilization laws for those deemed genetically unfit; in Britain they lobbied for incarceration of genetically unfit and in Germany for sterilization and eventually euthanasia. In all these countries one of the major arguments was that of efficiency: that it was inefficient to allow genetic defects to be multiplied and then have to try and deal with the consequences of state care for the offspring. National socialists called genetically defective individuals 'useless eaters' and argued for sterilization or euthanasia on economic grounds. Similar arguments appeared in the United States and Britain as well. At the present time (1997) much research and publicity is being given to claims about a genetic basis for all the same behaviors (alcoholism, manic depression, etc.), again in an economic context--care for people with such diseases is costing too much. There is an important lesson to learn from the past: genetic arguments are put forward to mask the true--social and economic--causes of human behavioral defects.

Eugenics↗
PubMed2006

Human genetics and politics as mutually beneficial resources: The case of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics during the Third Reich.

This essay analyzes one of Germany's former premier research institutions for biomedical research, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics (KWIA) as a test case for the way in which politics and human heredity served as resources for each other during the Third Reich. Examining the KWIA from this perspective brings us a step closer to answering the questions at the heart of most recent scholarship concerning the biomedical community under the swastika: (1) How do we explain why the vast majority of German human geneticists and eugenicists were willing to work for the National Socialist state and, at the very least, legitimized its exterminationist racial policy; and (2) what accounts for at least some of Germany's most renowned medically trained professionals' involvement in forms of morally compromised science that wholly transcend the bounds of normal scientific practice? Although a complete answer to this question must await an examination of other German biological research centers, the present study suggests that during the Nazi period the symbiotic relationship between human genetics and politics served to radicalize both. The dynamic between the science of human heredity and Nazi politics changed the research practice of some of the biomedical sciences housed at the KWIA. It also simultaneously made it easier for the Nazi state to carry out its barbaric racial program leading, finally, to the extermination of millions of so-called racial undesirables.

Academies and Institutes↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Eugenics and individual phenotypic variation: to what extent is biology a predictive science?

Eugenics, in whatever form it may be articulated, is based on the idea that phenotypic characteristics of particular individuals can be predicted in advance. This paper argues that biology's capacity to predict many of the characteristics exhibited by an individual, especially behavioral or cognitive attributes, will always be very limited. This stems from intrinsic limitations to the methodology for relating genotypes to phenotypes, and from the nature of developmental processes which intervene between genotypes and phenotypes. While genetic studies may generate valid population predictions for conditions which impact human health, neither genetics nor developmental biology are likely to generate useful individual predictions about variation in non-disease-related human behavioral and cognitive phenotypes in the foreseeable future.

Biology↗
PubMed2000

Engineering American society: the lesson of eugenics.

We stand at the threshold of a new century, with the whole human genome stretched out before us. Messages from science, the popular media, and the stock market suggest a world of seemingly limitless opportunities to improve human health and productivity. But at the turn of the last century, science and society faced a similar rush to exploit human genetics. The story of eugenics--humankind's first venture into a 'gene age'--holds a cautionary lesson for our current preoccupation with genes.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed1995

The hidden science of eugenics.

The early eugenicists were not stupid, but they did not share our social values. The rise and fall of the eugenics movement is a history that modern medical geneticists would do well to heed.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

[Questions of bio-ethics in the termination of pregnancy in the second and third trimester of pregnancy for eugenic indications (author's transl)].

According to the paragraph 218 B of the Criminal Code termination of pregnancy for eugenic indications is prohibited. Since it is today possible to diagnose anencephaly at 30 weeks an ethical dilemma arises. The hypothesis is founded that an anencephalic is clinically a dead entity with continuing functions of live corresponding to clinical death following an accident when essential parts of the brain have been lost. If this thesis is accepted a pregnancy can be terminated immediately following diagnosis of anencephaly without using the questionable medical psychiatric indication for termination.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed2004

From degeneration to genetic susceptibility, from eugenics to genethics, from Bezugsziffer to LOD score: the history of psychiatric genetics.

Reviewing the history of psychiatric genetics is a difficult task, since--in contrast to genetic research into most other disorders--it cannot simply be done by chronologically listing methodological achievements and major findings. Instead, it necessitates a comprehensive assessment of how the aetiological concept of mental disorders has developed since as early as the world of ancient Greece. Furthermore, it has to touch upon the sensitive issue of the eugenic movement that was closely linked to the study of heredity in mental disorders in the first half of the 20th century and, in Nazi Germany, led to the systematic mass murder of psychiatric patients. Finally, reviewing the scientific dimensions, history of psychiatric genetics is at the same time a walk through the history of complex genetics in general. In our review, we try to pay tribute to this complexity. We argue that psychiatric genetics has not only propelled our understanding of mental disorders but has significantly benefited genetic research into other complex disorders through the development of methodologically robust approaches (e.g., systematic phenotype characterisation, methods to control for ascertainment biases, age-correction). Given the recent reasons for new optimism, i.e., the identification of susceptibility genes for psychiatric phenotypes, a continued methodologically sound approach is needed more than ever to guarantee robust results. Finally, psychiatric genetic research should never again be performed in an environment void of ethical standards.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed1998

Chinese geneticists' views of ethical issues in genetic testing and screening: evidence for eugenics in China.

To identify Chinese geneticists' views of ethical issues in genetic testing and screening, a national survey was conducted. Of 402 Chinese geneticists asked to participate, 255 (63%) returned by mail anonymous questionnaires. The majority of respondents thought that genetic testing should be offered in the workplace for alpha-antitrypsin deficiency (95%) and the predisposition of executives to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes (94%); that genetic testing should be included in preemployment physical examinations (86%); that governments should require premarital carrier tests (86%), newborn screening for sickle cell (77%), and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (71%); and that children should be tested for genes for late-onset disorders such as Huntington disease (85%), susceptibility to cancers (85%), familial hypercholesterolemia (84%), alcoholism (69%), and Alzheimer disease (61%). Most believed that partners should know each other's genetic status before marriage (92%), that carriers of the same defective gene should not mate with each other (91%), and that women should have a prenatal diagnosis if medically indicated (91%). The majority said that in China decisions about family planning were shared by the couple (82%). More than half had views that, in China, there were no laws to prohibit disability discrimination (64%), particularly to protect people with adult polycystic kidney disease (57%), cystic fibrosis (56%), or genetic predisposition to other diseases (50%). To some extent, these results might provide a basis for a discussion of eugenics in China, particularly about China's Maternal and Infant Health Care Law (1994).

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Rethinking mental retardation: education and eugenics in Connecticut, 1818-1917.

This case study of mental retardation in Connecticut during 1818-1917 questions the existing model of interpretation. The discovery of mental retardation in Connecticut did not emanate from social fear over those who were different, difficult, or dangerous. Nor did state government initiate the institutionalization of the feeble-minded. Instead, Dr. Henry M. Knight, who founded the private Connecticut School for Imbeciles in 1858, was motivated by antebellum religious benevolence. His altruism was additionally motivated by cultural concerns to shape behavior according to middle-class, Protestant norms. By the end of the century, his son and successor Dr. George H. Knight departed from his father's emphasis on education and assimilation to embrace eugenics and segregation of the mentally retarded. Connecticut's pioneering marital ban (1895) and sterilization law (1909) were, however, virtually ineffective. Instead, the state sponsored in 1917 a large-scale custodial facility that sought to isolate the feeble-minded, whom reformers now portrayed as a menace to society. In sum, the Knights show a clear departure in policy between the first and second generation of administrators.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2004

Aoteaoroa/New Zealand nursing: from eugenics to cultural safety...

The concept of cultural safety offers a unique approach to nursing practice, based on recognition of the power differentials inherent in any interaction. It is from within the context of nursing in Aoteaoroa/New Zealand (A/NZ) that the concept developed and was subsequently integrated into nursing education. Cultural safety is based within a framework of biculturalism, and is congruent with the tenets of the nation's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi. Clarification of the concept is offered, together with a review of the historical shift in nursing attitudes that has led to the emergence of "cultural safety" as a viable and valued component of nursing practice. The argument is made that cultural safety has allowed for a more reflective, critical understanding of the actions of nursing to develop. This includes recognition that nurses' attitudes and values have inevitably been influenced by social and political forces, and as such are in part reflective of those within the wider community. Comparison between the support given by nurses in the early 1900s to the theory of eugenics and the current acceptance of cultural safety is used to highlight this point. An examination of the literature identifies that ideological and conceptual changes have occurred in the approach of A/NZ nurses to issues with cultural implications for practice. A review of background factors relating to Maori health status and the Treaty of Waitangi is presented as a necessary context to the overall discussion. The discussion concludes with an acknowledgement that while the rhetoric of cultural safety is now part of nursing culture in New Zealand, there is no firm evidence to evaluate its impact in practice. Issues identified as impacting on the ability to assess/research a concept, such as cultural safety, are discussed. For cultural safety to become recognised as a credible (and indispensable) tool, it is necessary to further examine the "end-point" or "outcomes" of the process.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1992

Survival rate of extremely low birthweight infants and its effect on the amendment of the Eugenic Protection Act in Japan.

Because of the increasing survival rate of extremely low birthweight infants in recent years, the viability limit in the Eugenic Protection Act in Japan was amended from 24 to 22 completed weeks of gestation. The Japan Pediatric Society's survey on the outcome of infants born in 1990 focused on infants born before 24 weeks gestation and less than 500 g. The survival rates of infants born in 23, 22 and before 22 weeks gestation overall at 511 hospitals throughout Japan were 43/118 (36%), 3/36 (8%) and 0/8 (0%), respectively. Of 16 infants, none weighing less than 400 g at birth survived but 16 (12%) of 50 infants between 400 and 499 g survived. Up-to-date statistical data is essential to the amendment of the concept of viability and subsequent ethical decision-making on extremely low birthweight infants.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1993

Is gene therapy a form of eugenics?

If, as I believe, gene therapy is in principle ethically sound except for its possible connection with eugenics then there are two obvious ways of giving a simple and straightforward answer to a question such as this. The first is to say "yes it is, and so what?" The second is to say "no it isn't so we shouldn't worry". If we accept the first of the above definitions we might well be inclined to give the first of our two answers. If on the other hand, we accept the sort of gloss that Ruth Chadwick gives on Galton's account, "those who are genetically weak should simply be discouraged from reproducing", either by incentives or compulsory measures, we get a somewhat different flavour, and one which might incline a decent person who favours gene therapy towards the second answer.

Persons with Disabilities↗