Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal (23 March 1833, in Berlin – 27 January 1890, in

Kreuzlingen Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second-largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of about 22,000. ...

) was a German psychiatrist from Berlin. He was the son of

Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal (1800 – 1879) was a German physician and Geheimer Sanitätsrath (privy medical counsellor). He wrote on the human eye and on optics. He was interested in environmental impacts on eyesight, including light quality, and ...

(1800–1879) and Karoline Friederike Heine and the father of Alexander Karl Otto Westphal (1863-1941). He was married to Klara, daughter of the banker Alexander Mendelssohn.

Academic career

After receiving his doctorate, he worked at the Berlin

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 ...

, and subsequently became an assistant in the department for the mentally ill under

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) and Karl Wilhelm Ideler (1795–1860). In 1869 he became an associate professor of psychiatry, as well as a clinical instructor in the department for mental and nervous diseases, In 1874 he attained the title of full professor of psychiatry.

Achievements in medicine

Westphal's contributions to medical science are many; in 1871 he coined the term "agoraphobia", when he observed that three male patients of his displayed extreme anxiety and feelings of dread when they had to enter certain public areas of the city. He is credited with providing an early diagnosis of "pseudosclerosis", a disease known today as hepatolenticular degeneration. He also demonstrated a relationship between

tabes dorsalis Tabes dorsalis is a late consequence of neurosyphilis, characterized by the slow degeneration (specifically, demyelination) of the neural tracts primarily in the dorsal root ganglia of the spinal cord (nerve root). These patients have lancinating n ...

(nerve degeneration in the

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

) and paralysis in the mentally insane. Westphal is credited with describing a deep tendon reflex anomaly in

that later became known as the "Erb–Westphal symptom" (named with neurologist

Wilhelm Heinrich Erb Wilhelm Heinrich Erb (30 November 1840 – 29 October 1921) was a German neurologist. He was born in Winnweiler, and died in Heidelberg. Academic career In 1864 he received his medical degree from the University of Heidelberg, where for sev ...

(1840–1921). His name is also shared with neurologist Ludwig Edinger (1855–1918) regarding the

Edinger–Westphal nucleus The Edinger–Westphal nucleus (accessory oculomotor nucleus, or visceral oculomotor nucleus) is one of two nuclei of the oculomotor nerve. It is located in the midbrain. It contributes the autonomic parasympathetic (i.e. visceral) component to t ...

, which is an accessory nucleus of the

oculomotor nerve The oculomotor nerve, also known as the third cranial nerve, cranial nerve III, or simply CN III, is a cranial nerve that enters the orbit through the superior orbital fissure and innervates extraocular muscles that enable most movements of ...

(cranial nerve number III; CN III). He was the first physician to provide a clinical description of

narcolepsy Narcolepsy is a long-term neurological disorder that involves a decreased ability to regulate sleep–wake cycles. Symptoms often include periods of excessive daytime sleepiness and brief involuntary sleep episodes. About 70% of those affec ...

and

cataplexy Cataplexy is a sudden and transient episode of muscle weakness accompanied by full conscious awareness, typically triggered by emotions such as laughing, crying, or terror. Cataplexy affects approximately 70% of people who have narcolepsy, and is ...

(1877). French physician Jean-Baptiste-Édouard Gélineau (1828–1906), also described the two maladies, coining the term ''narcolepsie'' in 1880. A large portion of his written work dealt with diseases of the spinal cord and neuropathological issues. He trained a number of prominent neurologists and

neuropathologist Neuropathology is the study of disease of nervous system tissue, usually in the form of either small surgical biopsies or whole-body autopsies. Neuropathologists usually work in a department of anatomic pathology, but work closely with the clinic ...

s, including

Arnold Pick Arnold Pick (20 July 18514 April 1924) was a Jewish Czech psychiatrist. He is known for identifying the clinical syndrome of Pick's disease and the Pick bodies that are characteristic of the disorder. He was the first to name reduplicative param ...

Hermann Oppenheim Hermann Oppenheim (1 January 1858 – 5 May 1919) was one of the leading neurologists in Germany. Life and work Oppenheim is the son of Juda Oppenheim (1824–1891), the long-time rabbi of the Warburg synagogue community , and his wife, Cäcil ...

Karl Fürstner Karl Fürstner (7 June 1848 - 25 April 1906) was a German neurologist and psychiatrist born in Strasburg, Uckermark. He studied medicine in Würzburg and Berlin, where he received his doctorate in 1871. In 1872 he was an assistant at the patho ...

Carl Moeli Carl Franz Moeli (10 May 1849 – 4 November 1919) was a German neurologist and psychiatrist born in Kassel. He studied medicine in Marburg, Würzburg and Leipzig followed by work as an assistant at clinics in Rostock and Munich. In 1880 he bec ...

and

Karl Wernicke Carl (or Karl) Wernicke (; ; 15 May 1848 – 15 June 1905) was a German physician, anatomist, psychiatrist and neuropathologist. He is known for his influential research into the pathological effects of specific forms of encephalopathy and also ...

. His son, Alexander Karl Otto Westphal (1863–1941) was also a psychiatrist, and is associated with the Westphal-Piltz syndrome (neurotonic pupillary reaction). Westphal, in addition to his multiple contributions to neurology and neuroanatomy, has been credited with introducing rational and non-censorious treatment to psychiatric hospitalization in Germany.

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

credits Westphal for the birth of the modern homosexual, with his paper published in 1870 on "contrary sexual feeling", in which he describes two people dealing with what would later come to be known as homosexuality. This appears to be one of the first medical accounts of sexuality as a psychiatric disorder.

Additional eponyms

* "Westphal-Leyden ataxia": Acute

ataxia Ataxia is a neurological sign consisting of lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements that can include gait abnormality, speech changes, and abnormalities in eye movements. Ataxia is a clinical manifestation indicating dysfunction of ...

that begins in childhood. Named with

Ernst Viktor von Leyden Ernst Viktor von Leyden (20 April 1832 – 5 October 1910) was a German internist from Danzig. Biography He studied medicine at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Institut in Berlin, and was a pupil of Johann Lukas Schönlein (1793–1864) and Lud ...

(1832-1910). * "

Westphal's sign Westphal's sign is the clinical correlate of the absence or decrease of patellar reflex or knee jerk. Patellar reflex or knee jerk is a kind of deep or stretch reflex where an application of a stimulus to the patellar tendon such as strike by a so ...

": The clinical correlate of the absence or decrease of

patellar The patella, also known as the kneecap, is a flat, rounded triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in many tetrapods, such as m ...

reflex or

knee jerk The patellar reflex, also called the knee reflex or knee-jerk, is a stretch reflex which tests the L2, L3, and L4 segments of the spinal cord. Mechanism Striking of the patellar tendon with a reflex hammer just below the patella stretches the mus ...

. * "Westphal's syndrome": A familial form of intermittent hypocalcaemic paralysis.

Selected writings

* ''Die Konträre Sexualempfindung: Symptom eines neuropathologischen (psychopathischen) Zustandes'' in: Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, Berlin, 1869–70; 2: 73–108. * ''Die Agoraphobie, eine neuropathische Erscheinung''. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, Berlin, 1871–72; 3: 138–161. * ''Ueber einige durch mechanische Einwirkung auf Sehnen und Muskeln hervorgebrachte Bewegungs-Erscheinungen (Knie-, Fussphänomen)''. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, Berlin, 1875,5: 803–834. * ''Eigentümliche mit Einschlafen verbundene Anfälle''. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, Berlin, 1877; 7: 631–635. (described Westphal-Leyden

). * ''Über eine dem Bilde der cerebrospinalen grauen Degeneration ähnliche Erkrankung des centralen Nervensystems ohne anatomischen Befund, nebst einigen Bemerkungen über paradoxe Contraction''. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 1883, 14: 87–134. (described Westphal's sign and Westphal– Strümpell pseudosclerosis). * ''Über einen merkwürdigen Fall von periodischer Lähmung aller vier Extremitäten mit gleichzeitigem Erlöschen der elektrischen Erregbarkeit während der Lähmung''. Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift, 1885,22: 489–491, 509–511. (described Westphal's syndrome).
Who Named It, Bibliography

Translations

* Westphal, K. (2006). ''Contrary sexual instinct: Symptom of a neuropathic (psychopathic) Condition''. (M. Lombardi-Nash, Trans.). Jacksonville, FL: Urania Manuscripts. (Original work published 1869)

References

External links

''Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal''
at

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograph ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westphal, Karl German neurologists 1833 births 1890 deaths Mendelssohn family Humboldt University of Berlin faculty German psychiatrists History of psychiatry Physicians of the Charité