'Acquired idiotism', by Frederik Lange (1883).

The little-known writing by Frederik Lange translated in this Classic Text belongs to what can be called the prolegomenal history of the construction of the concept of schizophrenia. It describes one effort to capture the convergence of certain words of diverse coinage (dementia praecox, acquired idiocy, hebephrenia, heboidophrenia, etc.) with some newly accepted concepts (e.g. the temporalization of madness and the view that adolescence was an independent period of life), and with some old behaviours (which for centuries had been called madness, the portmanteau soon to be rebaptized as psychosis). This convergence culminated in the work of Kraepelin, who was to call it 'dementia praecox'. Lange's transitional efforts and pangs can be sensed as he struggles to describe a new form of madness that affects young people.

An overview on Hebephrenia, a diagnostic cornerstone in the neurodevelopmental model of Schizophrenia.

Pre-Kraepelinian observations converged in Kahlbaum's and Hecker's description of Hebephrenia. For Kraepelin, Hebephrenia was an 'idiopathic incurable dementia whose onset is in adolescence'. It became the core of 'Dementia Praecox', and then Bleulerian 'Schizophrenia'. In recent decades, the resurgence of the 'late neurodevelopment' hypothesis of schizophrenia has brought into focus Hecker's clinical reports of adolescents who, as a result of a putative loss of psychic energy, showed a rapidly progressive cognitive impairment leading to functional and behavioural disorganization. This paper summarizes the nineteenth-century conceptualization of Hebephrenia as a developmental illness.

The development of Kraepelin's mature diagnostic concept of hebephrenia: a close reading of relevant texts of Hecker, Daraszkiewicz, and Kraepelin.

In developing his mature concept of hebephrenic dementia praecox (DP) in his 4th (1893) through 6th textbook editions (1899), Kraepelin worked from the hebephrenic syndrome first described by Hecker (1871) and then carefully studied by his student Daraszkiewicz (1892). Working under Kraepelin's supervision, Daraszkiewicz followed Hecker in emphasizing several key features of hebephrenia (distinctive deteriorative course, importance of silliness and minimal positive psychotic symptoms) but expanded the syndrome to include cases developing severe dementia, rejected the link to prodromal depressive and manic phases, and reduced the emphasis on thought disorder. Daraszkiewicz proposed a soft subtyping of hebephrenia based on level of deterioration, which Kraepelin adopted in his 4th edition with an additional emphasis on severe positive psychotic symptoms. In his 5th edition, Kraepelin created a third subform with even more pronounced and bizarre delusions and hallucinations. In his 6th edition, which contained his first articulation of DP, Kraepelin eliminated his hebephrenia subforms presenting a single syndrome, which, compared to Hecker, included more emphasis on positive psychotic and catatonic symptoms and severe dementia. Kraepelin's paths to hebephrenic and paranoid DP differed in important ways. Paranoid DP was a de novo syndrome created by differentiation from paranoia. Hebephrenia, by contrast, evolved from a disorder created in the Kahlbaum/Hecker paradigm of the iterative study of clinical features, course and outcome. Kraepelin further implemented this approach in substantially reworking, over several drafts, the hebephrenic syndrome to fit into his emerging construct of dementia praecox.

[Leon Daraszkiewicz and his monograph on hebephrenia]. / Leon Daraszkiewicz i jego monografia o hebefrenii.

Leon Daraszkiewicz (1866-1931) was a Polish psychiatrist, a pupil and co-worker of E. Kraepelin and V. Tsiz on the University of Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia), the author of highly regarded monograph on hebephrenia (1891). In his work on the basis of over 20 case histories, he described a natural history of hebephrenia and his own views on its aetiology and prognosis. Hebephrenia as described by Daraszkiewicz, served as a clinical model for the Kraepelinian concept of dementia praecox. In the article, the life and career of Daraszkiewicz is covered, with particular emphasis on the role of his doctoral dissertation on hebephrenia in the history of the concept of schizophrenia.

The legacy of Ewald Hecker: a new translation of "Die Hebephrenie". Translated by Marie-Louise Schoelly.

Early descriptions of schizophrenia may be found in the writings of Haslam and Morel, but the turning point in the development of the modern concept was Ewald Hecker's classic paper on hebephrenia in 1871. The syndrome he described--a psychosis of early onset with a deteriorating course characterized by a "silly" affect, behavioral peculiarities, and formal thought disorder--not only adumbrated Kraepelin's generic category of dementia praecox but quite specifically defined the later subtype of hebephrenic, or disorganized, schizophrenia as well. The present translation into English of Hecker's "Die Hebephrenie" makes accessible a crucial milestone in the history of modern psychiatry.

Mental illness and rehabilitation in early nineteenth-century Ireland: the case of Charles Stock.

The case of a sixteen-year-old youth is presented on the basis of correspondence over the years 1806 to 1813. His initial breakdown was probably due to hebephrenic schizophrenia, but clinical detail is defective and the evidence is chiefly about the difficulties of recovery and rehabilitation. The case is discussed in relation to the treatment he received and against the background of provision for insanity and psychiatric methods and ideas in Ireland during the period.