Schneider-oriented versus Conrad-oriented psychiatric diagnosis in the same German clinic

Abstract

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.