eMJA: What is pathography?

To the Editor: I read with great interest about your search in dictionaries for the word "pathography".1

Pathography2 originates from reflections on genius and its possible association with insanity, a question that has occupied experts in many fields since Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The first psychiatric scientific treatise concerning this question was contributed by Moreau de Tours in 1859.3 Inspired by him, Cesare Lombroso, in 1863, coined the famous expression genio et follia, and contributed many, albeit somewhat uncritical, pathographies.

The term pathography was first used about 1899 by the German psychiatrist Paul Julius Möbius, who contributed with several seminal pathographies, including Rousseau, Goethe, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.

Among other famous pathographers should be mentioned Freud, W Lange, Jaspers, Birnbaum and Kretschmer.

Pathography can be defined4 as

. . . historical biography from a medical, psychological and psychiatric viewpoint. It analyses a single individual's biological heredity, development, personality, life history, and mental and physical pathology, within the socio-cultural context of his/her time, in order to evaluate the impact of these factors upon his/her decision-making, performance and achievements. No preconceived format can be assumed as the method depends on the nature of the various available materials and on the specific inquiry. A prerequisite for plausible pathographical results is a thorough knowledge and understanding of psychopathology, and of the borderland between normal and abnormal mental life, combined with a capacity for [sober] historical judgement. . . . The pathographical method is applicable to any personality, sick or sound, provided that sufficient biographical sources are available. The pathographical result is a facet but often an indispensable one.

Subjects of pathography have traditionally been famous people in all areas of human achievement. Pathography is also indispensable in assisting historians, political scientists and other groups in their quest for a better understanding of events where leaders or other "very important persons" have played a significant role, and where personality or illness, physical or mental, has been decisive, at times with far-reaching consequences for nations.5,6 History is replete with such examples.

van der Weyden MB. Extinguishing empathy [From the Editor's desk]. Med J Aust 2002; 177: 401.<eMJA full text>
Schioldann J. Den patografiske tradition og metode. Dansk Medicinsk Årbog (Copenhagen) 1983; 91-104.
Moreau (de Tours) J. La psychologie morbide dans ses rapport avec la philosophie de l'histoire ou l'influence des névropathies sur le dynamisme intellectual. Paris: Masson, 1859.
Schioldann J. The Life of D. G. Monrad, 1811–1887. Manic-depressive disorder and political leadership. Odense: Odense University Press, 1988.
Lawrence J. The psychiatry of leadership and the psychiatrist as leader. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 1988; 22: 245-256.
Schioldann J. The psychiatry of leadership. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 1988; 22: 344-346.

(Received 6 Nov 2002, accepted 23 Dec 2002)