Hans Jörg Weitbrecht

This article deals with the neurologist Hans Jörg Weitbrecht. For other people see Hansjörg Weitbrecht .

Hans Jörg Weitbrecht (born May 30, 1909 in Baiersbronn , † January 2, 1975 in Bonn ) was a German psychiatrist and neurologist .

Live and act

After attending the Karlsgymnasium in Stuttgart , Weitbrecht studied medicine at the universities of Tübingen and Vienna . He was then employed as an assistant doctor at the Stuttgart Bürgerhospital from 1935 to 1937 and then moved to the Christophsbad private clinic for neurological, psychiatric, psychosomatic and geriatric diseases in Göppingen as a department doctor . Here he stayed, with interruptions due to military service and imprisonment, until 1956. In the meantime , he completed his habilitation in 1944 as an external employee of Kurt Beringer at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg in the fields of psychiatry and neurology with the subject of contributions to religious psychopathology, especially on the psychopathology of conversion . In addition, from 1950 on, in addition to his clinic work, Weitbrecht also took on a lectureship with Ernst Kretschmer at the University of Tübingen.

In 1956, Weitbrecht accepted a call to the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn , where he received the chair for psychiatry and neurology. Weitbrecht rejected an appointment to a professorship at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main in 1964 and taught and worked at Bonn University until his death. Here he set up the department for depth psychology , psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine and a department for medical psychology as well as a psychotherapeutic advice center for students. In the meantime he was elected dean and the senate and from 1965 to 1969 director of the clinical institutions and in 1969/1970 rector of the university.

Since 1946 Weitbrecht was co-editor of the journal progress in neurology and psychiatry and their border areas and from 1964 of the archive for psychiatry and nervous diseases . Weitbrecht wrote numerous articles as well as several recognized specialist and textbooks for this and other specialist journals. In 1974 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his numerous services .

Weitbrecht was significantly influenced in his scientific development both by his uncle Kurt Schneider , the recognized expert in the field of psychopathology , and by Robert Gaupp and the aforementioned Ernst Kretschmer. As part of his habilitation, he initially dealt intensively with the psychology of religion as one of the few scientists active in this research area . Later he specialized in the field of schizophrenia , epilepsy and depression . Valuable information for modern therapy could be obtained from his work. He coined the term "endoreactive dysthymia " and provided new insights into delusion and ecstasy . Many of his research results have now been verified by various further studies.

Throughout his life, Weitbrecht strived for freedom of research and independence, took no account of the prevailing doctrines or political trends and, using the example of "Psychiatry in the Nazi era", showed what abuse can lead to. Weitbrecht, popular with his colleagues and students, was considered to be unorthodox and progressive in his field of activity and as an advocate of a dialogue between different and often contradicting views.

In his memory, the Hans Jörg Weitbrecht Science Prize was initiated in collaboration with the Bayer Vital company and has been awarded every two years since 1989 for special achievements in the field of clinical neuroscience . It serves to promote research in psychiatry and neurology and is endowed with 10,000 euros, which, if the board of trustees decide, can be distributed among several award winners.

Fonts

• Contributions to the psychopathology of religion, especially to the psychopathology of conversion. Habilitation thesis. Scherer, Heidelberg 1948.
• Study on the psychopathology of convulsive psychoses. Thieme, Stuttgart 1949.
• Critique of Psychosomatics. Thieme, Stuttgart 1955.
• Psychiatry in outline. Springer, Heidelberg / Berlin / Göttingen 1963.
• Psychiatric Misdiagnoses in General Practice - Primer of Differential Diagnosis. Thieme, Stuttgart 1966.

literature

• Walter Killy, Rudolf Vierhaus: Dictionary of German Biography. Vol. 10, KG Saur, Munich 2006; P. 435 google-online
• Uwe Henrik Peters: Lexicon of psychiatry, psychotherapy, medical psychology. 6th edition. Urban & Fischer, Elsevier, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-437-15061-6 , p. 606.
• Peter Kaiser: Religion in psychiatry, an (un) conscious repression? V & R Unipress, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89971-408-1 , pp. 165-169.
• Theo R. Payk: Psychiatrist - Researcher in the Labyrinth of the Soul. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-17016-684-0 , p. 11 (introduction).
• Gerd Huber: Hans Jörg Weitbrecht 1909–1975. In: Archives for Psychiatry and Nervous Diseases. 220, 1975, p. 269ff, doi : 10.1007 / BF00342056 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans Jörg Weitbrecht in the catalog of the German National Library