Dr. Eleni Rosiou is a historian of Medicine, specialized in the History of Psychiatry. She holds a PhD and two postgraduate degrees. Her studies concern the fields of History of Psychiatry and History of Art in its connection with Psychiatry. She has published many papers on these scientific fields, she has also undertaken the conduct of four exemplary university courses, she has occasionally given lectures on issues of the History of Psychiatry and she has taken part as a delegate and as a special invited speaker at many Psychiatric and Neurological Conferences.
Field of Expertise: History of European Psychiatry, Degeneration Theory, Criminology, Eugenics, Art of Psychotics
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING AND CHRONIC CONDITIONS POST-BRAIN INJURY
The connection between the psychiatric theory of degeneration and brain injury
Abstract
The concept of progressive hereditary degeneration, which significantly influenced medical, particularly psychiatric and in turn social thought of the second half of 19th century, was articulated by Bénédict Augustin Morel (1809-1873). The distinguished French psychiatrist developed the theory of degeneration and created the nosological framework of the heredity of mental illness in order to explain the more frequent psychoses and nervous disorders. In the absence of patho-anatomical findings, Morel attributed these phenomena to hereditary causes. His theory was the first attempt to interpret insanity, mental disorders and criminality, across generations, and formed the basis for the further development of psychiatry. The modern psychiatric approach combines heredity with epigenetics to explain mental illness, a view introduced by Morel in the mid-19th century.
The theory of degeneration argued that all phrenopathy is hereditary. In addition to the aggravating factors of intoxication due to unhealthy living conditions, violation of hygiene rules, alcohol or drug use, and serious illnesses, cerebral degeneration could result from fetal brain diseases, such as porencephaly, or from head or brain injuries. In order to suffer from phrenopathy, someone had to have the predisposition. According to the theorists of degeneration, phrenopathy is not inherited, but the tendency to diseases of the nervous system in general. Degenerate individuals carried both physical and mental stigmata, which served as an auxiliary factor in the diagnosis. In the literature, there are records of incidents with references to head or brain injuries that ultimately led to mental disorders and even manifestations of antisocial behavior. Degeneration theory had a notable influence on many scientific disciplines of the time, such as criminology, anthropology, biology and general pathology. It would later result in the emergence of eugenics, which raised several moral issues and would ultimately be used in many ways to justify segregation.