Ludwig Meyer (27 December 1827 – 8 February 1900) was a German

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

born in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

. In 1852 he obtained his medical doctorate from the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, afterwards working as an assistant at

Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research Cen ...

Hospital. Later he worked as a doctor at the insane asylum in Schwetz, and in 1856 was appointed chief physician at the city hospital in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. From 1866 until his death he was a professor of psychiatry at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, as well as director of the mental institution associated with the university. Meyer was a pioneer of no-restraint policy in German mental institutions, and is remembered for his innovative work performed in mental hospital administration. He published over 100 articles in medical journals, including influential works such as ''Das No-restraint und die deutsche Psychiatrie'' (The "no-restraint" policy and German psychiatry) and ''Studien zur forensischen Psychiatrie, speziell zur geminderten Zurechnungsfähigkeit'' (Studies of

forensic psychiatry Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychiat ...

, especially for impaired mental capacity). Meyer performed important research on the inflammatory nature of brain changes in

general paresis General paresis, also known as general paralysis of the insane (GPI), paralytic dementia, or syphilitic paresis is a severe neuropsychiatry, neuropsychiatric disorder, classified as an organic mental disorders, organic mental disorder and is c ...

. Also, he is credited for introducing the standard modern concept of

prognathism Prognathism, also called Habsburg jaw or Habsburgs' jaw primarily in the context of its prevalence amongst members of the House of Habsburg, is a positional relationship of the mandible or maxilla to the skeletal base where either of the jaws pr ...

.
Deutsche Biographie ADB In 1867, with

Wilhelm Griesinger Wilhelm Griesinger (29 July 1817 – 26 October 1868) was a German neurologist and psychiatrist born in Stuttgart. Life and career He studied under Johann Lukas Schönlein at the University of Zurich and physiologist François Magendie in Pa ...

(1817–1868), he founded the ''Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten''.

Notes

References

Biography
at

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

British Journal of Psychiatry
(biography) German psychiatrists Physicians from Bielefeld University of Göttingen faculty 1827 births 1900 deaths History of psychiatry {{Germany-psychiatrist-stub