Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures University of Toronto
You are warmly invited to an academic presentation by Astrid Klee, PhD candidate in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.
Presentation Title:
Representations of Mental Illness in the Patient Cases of Emil Kraepelin’s Einführung in die Psychiatrische Klinik (Introduction to Psychiatric Practice)
Date: Thursday, January 30, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Odette Hall, Room 323
About the Speaker:
Astrid Klee’s research is a starting point for reassessing the descriptions of normative behaviour and deviance from norms within the context of psychiatric cases and how these preconceptions extend into current language use. Scientific language is used to convey a sense that what is written is incontrovertible fact, and this research not only provides insight into the use and manipulation of language in cases of insanity but also re-evaluates perceptions of otherness within culture.
Presentation Description:
In her dissertation project, Klee demonstrates how an examination of patient cases presented in Kraepelin’s Einführung in die Psychiatrische Klinik not only reveals the logic of Kraepelin’s development of a system of categorization, it also reveals a subtext of cultural and personal preconceptions.
Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926), whom some consider to be the father of modern psychiatry, is credited with developing the psychiatric classification system that is still used today. The latest version of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR), published in 2022, to a large extent features the categorization of mental illnesses that Kraepelin developed. Kraepelin’s nosology is the foundation for much of the research carried out at the Munich Research Institute in the 1930s, which represents the scientific basis of Nazi policy. There is a need to understand how language is used creatively within a scientific context, how literary techniques are used to validate science, now as then. It also, in a small way, answers the question of what use the humanities are to the sciences.
We look forward to welcoming you to this engaging academic talk!
