Freud on diplegia. Commentary and translation

Abstract

Sigmund Freud's contribution to the study of cerebral palsy was threefold: (1) he developed the classification that, essentially unchanged, is in use today; (2) he documented a poor correlation between clinical syndromes and neuropathologic lesions; and (3) he contributed extensively to the description of the various movement disorder syndromes of childhood. The clinical expertise implicit in this last aspect of Freud's pediatric neurologic work has been previously unremarked. To my commentary is appended a translation of his article describing the complexity of spastic diplegia (Little's disease).