Wilhelm Griesinger

Wilhelm Griesinger (July 29, 1817 - October 26, 1868) was a German neurologist and psychiatrist. He studied under Johann Lukas Schönlein at the University of Zurich and physiologist François Magendie in Paris.

After receiving his doctorate he practiced medicine in several locations, including Württemberg, Stuttgart, Tübingen and Kiel. In the early 1850s he went to Egypt to head the medical school in Cairo, and also became personal physician to Abbas I. During his stay in Egypt, he gained experience regarding tropical diseases, and as a result published "Klinische und anatomische Beobachtungen über die Krankheiten von Aegypten" (1854) and "Infectionskrankheiten" (1857).

In 1854 he became professor of clinical medicine at the University of Tübingen, and succeeded his friend Carl Wunderlich (1815-1877) as director of the Tübingen medical clinic. In 1859 Griesinger became head of an institution for mentally handicapped children in the small town of Mariaberg, and in 1860 participated in the planning of the Burghölzli Mental Hospital in Zurich. In 1865 he moved to Berlin and succeeded Moritz Heinrich Romberg as director at the university polyclinic. In Berlin he established two influential psychiatric journals; "Medicinisch-psychologische Gesellschaft" and the "Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten".

Griesinger is remembered for his reforms concerning the mentally ill and the asylum system. He believed in integration of the mentally ill into society, and proposed that short-term hospitalization be combined with close cooperation of natural support systems. He also provided valuable insights concerning the nature of psychopathic behavior. Today, the Wilhelm Griesinger Hospital in Berlin is named in honor of him.

References:

* [http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/1332.html Who Named It?; Wilhelm Griesinger]
* [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Griesinger German Wikipedia Site; Wilhelm Griesinger]