The British Journal of Psychiatry 129: 446-451 (1976)
© 1976 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Schneider-oriented versus Conrad-oriented psychiatric diagnosis in the same German clinic
K Koehler and W Guth
The Chair of the University Nervenklinik in Homburg/Saar was held by Klaus
Conrad from 1949-58 and by H.-H. Meyer, a former pupil and colleague of
Kurt Schneider, from 1962-72. As the catchment area and admission policy of
the clinic remained substantially unchanged throughout, comparison of the
relative proportions of all admissions allocated to different diagnostic
categories in 1949-58 and 1962-72 can be used to elucidate the similarities
and differences between Conrad's and Schneider's diagnostic criteria. The
results of this comparison indicate that Schneider's concept of
schizophrenia was broader than Conrad's, and his concept of
manic-depressive depression more restricted. More detailed comparisons are
complicated by differences in nomenclature and in the varieties of
functional mental illness recognized in the two periods. However, it seems
that Conrad's concept of mania was wider only when the atypical
schizophrenia-like psychoses diagnosed during the Conrad era were added to
the Conrad-oriented cases of mania; when this was not done, the
Schneiderian concept of mania was broader.
