English Abstract s1

English Abstract

The present book, based on the author’s doctoral thesis, investigates the forerunners of psychotherapy, particularly psychiatry, tracing them back to early Greek antiquity and following them through to its conceptualization in the 19th century.

The author, active philologist and psychotherapist, bases her deliberations on a ‘psychiatric’-nosological text dating from around 1610. She first translated the text, the probably last work by Barthélemy Pardoux‘, a Parisian doctor, theologian, and philosopher, from Latin to make it accessible to a broader public. Using historical discourse and text analysis, she then contextualized his thoughts historically and culturally, i.e. views them on the backdrop of renaissance humanism.

The fact that Pardoux’ diagnoses differ greatly from today’s, supports the hypothesis that any diagnostics is produced by the surrounding culture and is the outcome of the respective habitus or hexis (in Bourdieu’s terms). Apart from the ostensible medical discourse, political, societal, historical, religious, philosophical, and literary relations were ascertained. The codification of mental disorders has always been interlinked with literary topoi, as particularly exemplified by the Perdulcian diagnosis ‘lykanthropy’.

The fact, that the idea of ‚soul‘ dates far back, but its science is comparably young, poses an important research question. When trying to find harbingers of ‚depth-psychological‘ considerations, the ancient philosophers seem to yield more than the much later Pardoux’ teachings. The freedom of spirit (at least of elite thinkers) had given way to the Christian yoke. This precluded any self-orientation, inward-looking, reflection and the autonomy derived thereof, a distinct regress made up for only as late as in the Age of Enlightenment.

The book focuses on the living conditions around 1600, but harks back on the classical ideals in the tradition of which Pardoux sees himself (Aristoteles, Plato, Hippocrates, Galenos). His era is thus the pivotal point from which the author looks back and forward up to the present day. This diachronic tour d’horizon of the history of psychiatry and psychotherapy must naturally be cursory, but a few constituent key concepts of modern psychotherapy (subjectivity, individualism, self- reflection, introspection, mind/body/emotion interplay, empathy-based ethics) are studied in depth. In her reflections, the author concentrates on the socalled humanistic therapeutic orientations and contrasts them with various historical humanisms.