PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH IN PREMORBID PERSONA LITY WITHIN GERMAN-SPEAKINGCOUNTRIES - THE LAST 3 DECADES

The empirical research in premorbid personality of psychiatric patient s has markedly advanced in German speaking countries since adequate re search methods were introduced in the middle of the sixties. Among the various results are the following: Kretschmer's typological conceptio n of human constitution were largely refuted and replaced by other con ceptions on a methodologically more solid ground; Tellenbach's concept of the ''melancholic type'' as the premorbid structure of the majorit y of patients suffering from a unipolar affective disorder with melanc holic features could be convincingly validated; this concept was suppl emented by that of the ''manic type'' of personality as the premorbid correlate of the amount of a predisposition to manic episodes within t he course of an affective disorder; the premorbid deviations of person ality in schizophrenics and neurotics were shown to possess little nos ological specificity; furthermore, similar deviations could be demonst rated in the personality of (still healthy) relatives of patients with severe mental disorders; the complex relationships of (premorbid) per sonality. personality disorders and mental disorders were partly clari fied.