Manfred Bleuler (4 January 1903 – 4 November 1994) was a
Swiss
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* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
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physician and psychiatrist. Following in the footsteps of his father, doctoral supervisor, and colleague,
Eugen Bleuler
Paul Eugen Bleuler (; ; 30 April 1857 – 15 July 1939) was a Swiss psychiatrist and humanist most notable for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness. He coined several psychiatric terms including "schizophrenia", "schizoid", " ...
, Manfred Bleuler was devoted primarily to the study and treatment of
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
. For his contributions, he received the Stanley R. Dean Award in 1970 and the
Marcel Benoist Prize
The Marcel Benoist Prize, offered by the Marcel Benoist Foundation, is a monetary prize that has been offered annually since 1920 to a scientist of Swiss nationality or residency who has made the most useful scientific discovery. Emphasis is pl ...
in 1972.
Biography
Bleuler studied medicine at the
University of Zurich
The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
as well as in
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
and
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
. He trained at the Kantonales Krankenhaus
Liestal
Liestal (, Standard ), formerly spelled Liesthal, is the capital of Liestal District and the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, south of Basel.
Liestal is an industrial town with a cobbled-street Old Town.
The official language of Li ...
and, mostly, in the US, at
Boston Psychopathic Hospital
The Boston Psychopathic Hospital, established at 74 Fenwood Road in 1912, was one of the first mental health hospitals in Massachusetts, United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The name was cha ...
,
Boston City Hospital
The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital, located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and . ...
, and Bloomingdale Hospital in New York. In 1933, he was appointed the chief physician in the psychiatric departments at St. Pirminsberg,
Pfäfers
Pfäfers is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The villages Pfäfers, St. Margrethenberg, Vadura, Valens, Vasön and Vättis belong to the municipality.
History
The '' ...
, and the University Clinic,
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
. In 1942, Bleuler became the Professor of Psychiatry at
University of Zurich
The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
and the Director of the University Psychiatric Clinic at
Burghölzli
The ''Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik Zürich'' (Psychiatric University Hospital Zürich) is a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland. As a research hospital, it is associated with the University of Zürich. It is also called Burghölzli, after th ...
, where he stayed until his retirement in 1969.
Manfred Bleuler has been praised as the foremost
Bleuler scholar, providing valuable insight into his father's seminal ''Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias''. However, Bleuler himself greatly contributed to the study of the disorder, especially then the topics of late onset schizophrenia, chronic versus acute schizophrenia, and prognosis assessment. Perhaps the most critically, Bleuler first evaluated the impact of environmental variables on the development and outcome of schizophrenia in detail.
[Rosenthal, D. (1974)]
Selected works
Bleuler, M. (1972) Die schizophrenen Geistesstörungen: im Lichte langjähriger Kranken und Familiengeschichten. New York: Intercontinental Medical Book Corporation (U.S. distributor).
Bleuler, M., & Bleuler, R. (1986). Dementia Praecox oder Gruppe der Schizophrenien: Eugen Bleuler. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 661–664.
References
1903 births
1994 deaths
Swiss psychiatrists
20th-century Swiss physicians
{{psychiatrist-stub