Dementia praecox
Dementia praecox (meaning a "premature dementia" or "precocious madness") is a disused psychiatric diagnosis that originally designated a chronic, deteriorating psychotic disorder characterized by rapid cognitive disintegration, usually beginning in the late teens or early adulthood. Over the years, the term "dementia praecox" was gradually replaced by "schizophrenia", which remains in current diagnostic use.

The term "dementia praecox" was first used in 1891 by Arnold Pick (1851–1924), a professor of psychiatry at Charles University in Prague. In a brief clinical report, he described a person with a psychotic disorder resembling "hebephrenia" (schizophrenia). German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin (1856–1926) popularised the term "dementia praecox" in his first detailed textbook descriptions of a condition that eventually became a different disease concept and relabeled as "schizophrenia". Kraepelin reduced the complex psychiatric taxonomies of the nineteenth century by dividing them into two classes: manic-depressive psychosis and dementia praecox. This division, commonly referred to as the Kraepelinian dichotomy, had a fundamental impact on twentieth-century psychiatry, though it has also been questioned.

The primary disturbance in dementia praecox was seen to be a disruption in cognitive or mental functioning in attention, memory, and goal-directed behaviour. Kraepelin contrasted this with manic-depressive psychosis, now termed bipolar disorder, and also with other forms of mood disorder, including major depressive disorder. He eventually concluded that it was not possible to distinguish his categories on the basis of cross-sectional symptoms.

Kraepelin viewed dementia praecox as a progressively deteriorating disease from which no one recovered. However, by 1913, and more explicitly by 1920, Kraepelin admitted that while there may be a residual cognitive defect in most cases, the prognosis was not as uniformly dire as he had stated in the 1890s. Still, he regarded it as a specific disease concept that implied incurable, inexplicable madness.
Q7867
psychiatric
Concept
Q170082
psychotic disorder
Concept
Q41112
schizophrenia
Concept
Q201561
current diagnostic use
MEDIA
Q695970
Arnold Pick
PER
Q31519
Charles University in Prague
ORG
Q267759
hebephrenia
Concept
Q76828
Emil Kraepelin
PER
Q3026540
Kraepelinian dichotomy
UNK
Q131755
bipolar disorder
Concept
Q188638
mood disorder
Concept
Q42844
major depressive disorder
Concept
Q1185320
Dementia praecox
Concept
1891-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1891
DATE
1913-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1913
DATE
1920-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1920
DATE
1890-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1890
DATE
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1851
NUMBER
+1924^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1924
NUMBER
+1856^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1856
NUMBER
+1926^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1926
NUMBER
subclass of
health specialty
subclass of