Otto Diem

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otto Diem (born January 30, 1875 in Schwellbrunn , † July 4, 1950 in Lucerne ; resident in Herisau ) was a Swiss psychiatrist and neurologist . He is considered to be the first to describe schizophrenia simplex .

Life

Otto Diem was born as the son of the knitting and weaving manufacturer Konrad Diem. At the age of four and a half he developed polio , which resulted in permanent damage to a leg. He attended high school in St. Gallen from 1887 to 1894 , studied medicine at the universities of Geneva , Basel , Zurich , Bern and Berlin and passed the state examination in 1899 . From 1900 to 1902 he worked as first assistant doctor under Eugen Bleuler at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich. In 1903 Diem received his doctorate from Bleuler with a thesis on "[t] he simply demented form of dementia praecox " .

Diem settled in Herisau in 1902 as a general practitioner specializing in neurology. From 1909 to 1918 he was a member of the Herisau municipal council , and from 1913 as deputy governor. He also worked as a school doctor , founded holiday colonies , introduced breastfeeding bonuses , founded an alcohol-free restaurant and a public health insurance company . From 1915 to 1918 he was a member of the board of the Appenzeller Bahn . Diem was also President of the Appenzell Medical Society and the Herisau Casino Society.

In 1919 Diem became an expert in psychiatry and neurology at the central administration of the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA) in Lucerne. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Seekers and the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Community Rooms. He was also a member and from 1923 to 1938 President of the Lucerne branch of the New Helvetic Society ; for one term he was also a member of their central board. In Lucerne he was also involved in the introduction of courses for young citizens . In 1937 Diem retired. He died of complications from gastric cancer . He belonged to the Swiss Society for Psychiatry (from 1912) and the Swiss Neurological Society .

Otto Diem was married and had three children. His son Paul Diem became an electrical engineer and railway director.

Act

Nosology of dementia praecox

In his dissertation (1903) Diem proposed adding a fourth to the three types of dementia praecox defined by Emil Kraepelin - hebephrenia , catatonia , dementia paranoides . This type has the same final state as the other three, the same "disturbance of intelligence and mind", but progresses insidiously and without manic, depressive, hallucinatory and delusional symptoms. Diem suggested the designation "simply dementia [.] Form of dementia praecox" or "actual dementia simplex". Bleuler adopted Diem's ​​disorder in his basic work Dementia praecox or Group of Schizophrenias (1911) as schizophrenia simplex . It is still defined in the ICD-10 , but not in the DSM-IV .

Eugenic studies

In the statistical study "The psycho-neurotic hereditary burden of the mentally healthy and the mentally ill" (1905) Diem came to the conclusion that even "mentally healthy" often had a strong "hereditary burden". In contrast to the degenerative discourse widespread in eugenics , he emphasized the regenerative effects of hereditary influences:

"But even now, based on the results of my previous research, another outlook may be made: [...] the inheritance of the pathological is not an inevitable fate that continues to claim its victims in the once afflicted family or to worsen it Tribal or even to its extinction. Compensation is possible [...] "

He thus confirmed an analogous study by Jenny Thomann-Koller from 1895. Ernst Rüdin's “empirical genetic prognosis” (from 1911) was based in part on the studies of Kollers and Diems and further developed the statistical method on the basis of Mendel's laws of inheritance , however assuming an inevitable degeneration, unless countermeasures are taken through marriage bans , administrative care , abortion , sterilization and possibly killing the sick .

Otto Diem, however, completed his work with the request:

“The fight against worry, grief, hunger and deprivation of all kinds is not of today, but our work encourages us to give it intensive and all-round support from the standpoint of prophylaxis against mental illness. [...] "

Abstinence movement

A “relentless abstainer” from an early age, Diem has been active in the abstinence movement since his time at high school . At the University of Zurich, he joined the Swiss Academic Abstinents Association Libertas. He saw alcohol addiction, influenced by Bunge and Forel , as a social problem. Together with his wife, he took part in the founding and management of alcohol-free restaurants in Lucerne and was a “promoter of the sweet cider campaign ”. Diem was a member of the board of trustees of the “Swiss Association of Alcohol-Free Community Halls and Community Halls”.

Fonts

literature

  • Ernst H. Koller, Jakob Signer: Appenzell coat of arms and gender book. Stämpfli, Bern 1926, p. 51 f.
  • Hermann Aellen : Swiss Contemporary Lexicon. 2nd edition. Gotthelf, Bern 1932, p. 211.
  • Arnold Koller : Dr. Otto Diem, Lucerne (1875–1950). In: Swiss Archive for Neurology and Psychiatry . Vol. 68, 1952, pp. 404-406.
  • Fritz Lüthy : Obituary for Dr. Otto Diem. In: Swiss Archive for Neurology and Psychiatry . Vol. 69, 1953, p. 360 f.
  • Michael Eyl: "s'chunnt uf ds mal en unggle füre wo dir nüt heit gwüsst dervo." Names and facts about Swiss psychiatric eugenics up to 1945. In: Christian Mürner (Ed.): Ethics Genetics Disability. Critical contributions from Switzerland. Swiss Central Agency for Curative Education, Lucerne 1991, pp. 75–92 (pp. 82 f .: Otto Diem).
  • Hans Jakob Ritter: From the insane statistics to the «hereditary burden» of the population. The development of the Swiss statistics for insane between 1850 and 1914. In: Traverse . Vol. 10 (2003), pp. 59-70, doi: 10.5169 / seals-23617 , here p. 66 ( digital copy ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Diem Otto , Matriculation Edition of the University of Zurich 1833–1924, accessed on March 8, 2016.
  2. ^ Entry in the Beisassen baptismal register 1831–1879 from Schwellbrunn, p. 163, accessed on May 4, 2016.
  3. ↑ Otto Diem (01/30/1875 - July 1950) , website Zurich herbaria, accessed on 4 May 2016th
  4. ^ Andreas Steigmeier: Diem, Paul. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz ., Accessed on May 4, 2016.
  5. ↑ Diem 1903, p. 185 f.
  6. ↑ Diem 1905, p. 359 f. ( Digitized version ).
  7. ^ Jenny Koller: Contribution to the inheritance statistics of the mentally ill in the Canton of Zurich; Comparison of the same with the hereditary burden of healthy people through mental disorders and the like. like. In: Archive for psychiatry and nervous diseases . Vol. 27 (1895), pp. 279-294, doi: 10.1007 / BF02076258 .
  8. ↑ Ernst Rüdin: Some ways and goals of family research with special consideration of psychiatry. In: Journal for the whole of neurology and psychiatry . 7: 487-585 (1911).
  9. ↑ Ritter 2003, p. 66.
  10. ↑ Diem 1905, p. 360 f. ( Digitized version ).
  11. ↑ Koller 1953, Lüthy 1953.
personal data
SURNAME Diem, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss psychiatrist and neurologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwellbrunn
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 1950
Place of death Lucerne