Carl Wernicke and the concept of 'elementary symptom'

Abstract

Examination of contemporary medical conference papers reveal that the German clinician, Carl Wernicke, conducted a unique on-going inquiry into psychiatric nosology. Wernicke was searching for what he called the elementary symptoms of mental disorder, or, in other words, the single psychopathological feature, from which all others arose. From 1892 onwards, he postulated a variety of such elementary symptoms. Wernicke's theory makes sense in terms of such categories as anxiety-psychosis and hallucinosis. His work contrasts with that of Kraepelin and also with modern diagnostic criteria. Neither Wernicke nor his followers pursued the theory of elementary symptoms, but an examination of his work sheds light on modern ideas about diagnosis.

Movement disorder and sensorimotor abnormalities in schizophrenia and other psychoses - European consensus on assessment and perspectives

“…The WKL-RP distinguishes several primarily psychomotor phenotypes ( Krahl et al, 1998 ). Motility psychosis , one form of cycloid psychosis, exclusively presents as primary hyperkinetic and akinetic episodes that enjoy full remission ( Leonhard, 1999a ).…”

Carl Wernicke (1848–1905) und die „Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard Schule“. Beziehungen zur „Erlanger Schule“ der Psychiatrie

“…Durch die Eponyme "Wernicke-Aphasie" oder "Wernicke-Mann-Lähmung" ist der Name Wernickes aktuell teilweise in der Neurologie präsenter als in der Psychiatrie [25]. Oft wird suggeriert, Wernicke hätte sich erst zu dem Zeitpunkt der Psychiatrie gewidmet, als er Professor der Psychiatrie wurde.…”

An Outline of Psychiatry in Clinical Lectures

“…The concept of an 'elementary symptom' is part of the title of L15, yet is not well explained. A review by Krahl and Schifferdecker, (1998) [ 1 ] suggests that he developed the idea in relation to 'anxiety psychosis' and 'hallucinosis', to which can be added 'autochthonous ideas', plus 'overvalued ideas' dealt with in this lecture.…”