Die transitorischen Störungen des Selbstbewusstseins - Ein Beitrag zur Lehre vom Transitorischen Irresein in klinisch-forensischer Hinsicht für Aerzte, Richter, Staatsanwälte und Vertheidiger (English: Transitory Disorders of Consciousness) is an 1868 book by the Austro-German psychiatrist and author Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902). The book comprises seven chapters, each dealing with a different kind of transient disturbance of consciousness, and it is meant to be a handbook for physicians, judges, prosecutors and defenders. At the beginning of each chapter, Krafft-Ebing introduces the general theme and discusses its relevance in a clinical-forensic context. He then precedes with the illustration of several case histories for each subsection. The book was reprinted and published by Hansebooks in January 2017.
Context
At the end of the 19th century, medicine and psychiatry was largely influenced by Bénédict Morel's degeneration theory. Degeneration was seen as weakening of higher brain regions that would allow more primitive and uncontrollable behavior to emerge. Proponents of this world view were convinced that a process of devolution was taking place in society and that the causes of this decline were rooted within biological causes. Inspired by evolutionary theories of Darwin and Lamarck, European degenerationists increasingly believed that mental disorders were disorders of heredity and therefore biologically determined. According to Morel, degeneration could be caused by several factors, including intoxication, social environment or mental illness. Although Krafft-Ebing himself was said to be a liberal and progressive psychiatrist, in many respects he was still a child of his time. He was a loyal supporter of Morel's ideology and advocated the idea that modern civilization posed enormous demands on the nervous system causing impulsive malfunctions. In 1879, he published his "Lehrbuch der Psychiatrie" (English: "Textbook of Insanity"), which would soon become the German bible of degeneration theory. He believed that alcohol abuse or immorality would cause lack of voluntary control in higher order brain functions which would consequently lead to so called moral insanity. With beginning of the 20th century and the end of the victorian era, degeneration theory began to lose its popularity and slowly paved the way for a multi-causal framework of mental illnesses.