Timeline of Psychiatry - Early 20th Century Psychiatry

Early 20th Century Psychiatry

1900

Russian neurologist Vladimir Bekhterev discovered the role of the hippocampus in memory.

1901

German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer identified the first case of what later became known as Alzheimer's disease.

Sigmund Freud published The Psychopathology of Everyday Life.

1902

Swiss-born psychiatrist Adolf Meyer became director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, influencing American psychiatry with his "common sense" approach which included keeping detailed patient records; he coined the term "mental hygiene".

1905

French psychologists Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon created the Binet-Simon Scale to assess intellectual ability, marking the start of standardized psychological testing.

1906

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov published the first Conditioning studies.

1908

The term "Schizophrenia" was coined by Swiss psychiatrist Paul Eugen Bleuler.

1909

In Sept. Sigmund Freud visited Clark University, winning over the U.S. psychiatric establishment.

1910

Sigmund Freud founded the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), with Carl Jung as the first president, and Otto Rank as the first secretary.

Boris Sidis opened the Sidis Psychotherapeutic Institute (a private hospital) at Maplewood Farms in Portsmouth, NH for the treatment of nervous patients using the latest scientific methods.

1911

Alfred Adler left Freud's Psychoanalytic Group to form his own school of thought, accusing Freud of overemphasizing sexuality and basing his theory on his own childhood.

The American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) was founded.

1913

The British Psychoanalytical Society was founded by Ernest Jones, who became Freud's biographer.

Citing Freud's inability to acknowledge religion and spirituality, Carl Jung split and developed his own theories; his new school of thought became known as Analytical Psychology.

Jacob L. Moreno pioneered Group Psychotherapy methods in Vienna, which emphasized spontaneity and interaction; they later became known as Psychodrama and Sociometry.

1914

Sigmund Freud published On Narcissism: An Introduction.

1917

Sigmund Freud published Introduction to Psychoanalysis, and Mourning and Melancholia.

1920

Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach developed the Rorschach Inkblot Test.

1921

Sigmund Freud published Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.

1923

German pharmacologist Otto Loewi and English neuroscientist Sir Henry Dale discovered Acetylcholine, the first neurotransmitter to be described, winning them the 1936 Nobel Prize.

1924

German neuropsychiatrist Hans Berger discovered human Electroencephalography.

Otto Rank published The Trauma of Birth, coining the term "pre-Oedipal", causing Freud to break with him.

1926

The Société Psychanalytique de Paris was founded with the endorsement of Sigmund Freud; the Nazis closed it in 1940.

1927

Austrian psychiatrist Manfred Sakel developed Insulin Shock Therapy as a treatment for psychosis; it was discontinued in the 1970s.

Austrian physician Julius Wagner-Jauregg won the Nobel Prize for his invention of malarial therapy as a treatment for general paralysis of the insane (neurosyphilis). He first initiated the treatment in 1917.

1928

Aug 23 – The Indian Association for Mental Hygiene came into being at Simla, with Lt. Col. Owen Berkeley – Hill, Superintendent of the then European Lunatic Asylum, Ranchi (now known as Central Institute of Psychiatry) elected as its first president.

1933

Hungarian psychiatrist Sandor Ferenczi published a paper claiming that patient accounts of childhood sexual abuse are true, providing a psychological explanation, causing Freud to break with him.

1935

The Indian division of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association was formed due to the efforts of Dr. Banarasi Das.

1938

Italian neurologist Ugo Cerletti and Italian psychiatrist Dr. Lucio Bini discovered Electroconvulsive Therapy.

1942

Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger founded Existential Therapy.

The Controversial Discussions between Sigmund Freud's daughter Anna Freud and Melanie Klein, founder of Object Relations Theory caused the British Psychoanalytical Society to permanently split into three camps.

1944

Ritalin (Methylphenidate) was synthesized.

1946

Mary Jane Ward published the novel The Snake Pit, which was filmed in 1948, causing reforms in U.S. state psychiatric hospitals.

1947

Jan 7 – The Indian Psychiatric Society was inaugurated at Delhi, mainly by the efforts of Dr. Nagendra Nath De, Major R. B. Davis, and Brigadier T. A. Munro.

1948

Lithium carbonate's ability to stabilize mood highs and lows in bipolar mood disorder (manic depression) was demonstrated by Australian psychiatrist John Cade, becoming the first effective medicine for the treatment of mental illness.

1949

Portuguese neurologist Antonio Moniz won the Nobel Prize for his work on Lobotomy.