Kopie von Johann Christian August Heinroth

Johann Christian August Heinroth (17 January 1773 – 26 October 1843) was a German physician who was the first to use the term psychosomatic. Heinroth divided the human personality into three personality types in his scholarly papers and published books in the 1800s, describing the Uberuns (conscience), the ego (mind, emotions and will) and the Fleish (basic drives, which included man's sinful nature).

Life

Heinroth was born in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. He initially studied medicine there, later continuing his education in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

under Johann Peter Frank (1745–1821). After briefly studying

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inhab ...

, he returned to Leipzig, where in 1805 he obtained his medical doctorate. In 1806 he became a lecturer at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, where in 1827 he was appointed a full professor of physical medicine. Heinroth is largely remembered for seminal work done in the field of

psychiatry Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...

. His views on psychiatric thought have been described as a combination of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and holistic medicine. He believed that the

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

had primacy over the body, and that the body and soul interacted in several ways. Consequently, mental sickness and many somatic illnesses are caused by the soul. In 1818 he introduced the term "psychosomatic" into medical literature. Heinroth regarded sin as a cause of mental illness. His description of sin came from a 19th-century Protestant standpoint, and was also derived from an accepted European code of

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

and morality. His definition of sin wasn't based on a singular event, but rather as a period of several years of an individual striving towards earthly, bodily satisfaction. From a philosophical point of view, Heinroth espoused the teachings of Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803).
Romantic Anthropology, Who are the central figures of Romantic Anthropology? In his 1818 textbook ''Störungen des Seelenlebens'' he classified mental disorders into different categories. The three main categories were named the exaltations, the clinical depression, depressions and the "mixed states" (''Mischung'') of exaltation and weakness. He further divided the mixed states category into subcategories called 'mixed mood disorders', 'mixed mental disorders' and 'mixed volition disorders'. Heinroth died on October 26, 1843 in Leipzig.

Selected writings

* ''Beyträge zur Krankheitslehre'' (Contributions to the study of illness), 1810. * ''Lehrbuch der Störungen des Seelenlebens'' (Textbook on the disorders of the soul), Leipzig 1818. two volumes
Volume 1 @googlebooks
*
Lehrbuch der Anthropologie
' (Textbook of

), Leipzig 1822. *
Lehrbuch der Seelengesundheitskunde
' (Textbook of mental health), Leipzig 1823. *
System der psychisch-gerichtlichen Medizin
' (A system of forensic psychiatric medicine), Leipzig 1825. *
Grundzüge der Criminal-Psychologie: oder, Die Theorie des Bösen Grundzüge der Criminal-Psychologie oder Die Theorie des Bösen
' (On the theory of evil), Berlin 1833.

Secondary literature

* Schmideler S, Steinberg H. Johann Christian August Heinroth (1773-1843). In: Wiemers G (Eds). Sächsische Lebensbilder Vol. 6, pt. 1, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2009:313-337 * Steinberg H. Johann Christian August Heinroth (1773-1843) - Der erste Lehrstuhlinhaber für Psychiatrie und sein Krankheitskonzept. In: Angermeyer MC, Steinberg H (Eds). 200 Jahre Psychiatrie an der Universität Leipzig. Personen und Konzepte
Heidelberg: Springer Medizin Verlag, 2005: 1-80
* * * *

References

External links

Heinroth, Johann Christian August (1818)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinroth, Johann Christian August German psychiatrists 1773 births 1843 deaths Bipolar disorder researchers Physicians from Leipzig Academic staff of Leipzig University