Kurt Schneider is, together with Karl Jaspers, the main representative of the Heidelberg School, an important antecedent of phenomenology and psychopathology of a biological nature.

In this article we will analyze the biography and theoretical contributions of Kurt Schneider , in particular those related to schizophrenia, depression and psychopathy.

Biography of Kurt Schneider

Kurt Schneider was born in 1887 in Crailsheim, which is now in Germany but at that time belonged to the independent kingdom of Württemberg. He studied medicine at the universities of Berlin and Tübingen, and in 1912 he received a doctorate with a thesis on Korsakoff’s psychopathology in the syndrome (or “psychosis”).

After serving in the army during the First World War, Schneider continued to train as a psychopathologist, philosopher and teacher. In 1922 he was hired as an associate professor at the University of Cologne. In 1931, he became director of the Institute for Psychiatric Research in Munich and head of psychiatry at a city hospital.

He collaborated with the German army as a senior physician and psychiatrist during the years of World War II. Later, in 1946, was appointed head of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Heidelberg , an institution that played a key role in the further development of academic psychopathology.

Schneider retired from the profession in 1955; until that time he retained his position as dean in Heidelberg, which he had obtained four years earlier. He died in October 1967 at the age of 80, leaving psychology and psychiatry a legacy that would have a remarkable influence.

One of the key points of Schneider’s methodology was its particular interest in the analytical description of patients’ subjective experience. In this sense his proposals can be related to the phenomenological method , and must be understood in a broader theoretical context: that of the Heidelberg school of psychiatry.

The Heidelberg School of Psychiatry

Kurt Schneider is considered, together with Karl Theodor Jaspers (1883-1969), one of the main theorists of the Heidelberg School of Psychiatry, whose nucleus was at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. This trend was characterised by his approach to mental disorder from a biological perspective .

Jaspers is mainly known for his work on delusions; a very relevant aspect of his work is his emphasis on the importance of the topography (the formal aspect) of psychopathological symptoms, as opposed to their specific contents. Other relevant authors from the Heidelberg School are Wilhelm Mayer-Gross and Oswald Bumke.

The clearest precedent of the Heidelberg School is Emil Kraepelin (1855-1926). This author created a classification of mental disorders according to their clinical manifestations, opposing previous systems that used hypothetical causes as the main criterion. Kraepelin’s influence on modern diagnostic classifications is evident.

Contributions of this author

Kurt Schneider’s most significant contributions to the field of psychopathology relate to diagnostic methods.

Specifically, it focused on the most characteristic signs and symptoms of certain psychological disorders in order to systematize and facilitate their identification, as well as the distinction of similar but not equivalent phenomena.

1. First-Rank Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Schneider delimited the conceptualization of schizophrenia from a series of manifestations that he referred to as “first-rate symptoms”, and that would help distinguish this disorder from other types of psychosis. It is important to note that at the time the term “psychosis” also referred to phenomena such as mania.

The first range of symptoms of schizophrenia according to Schneider would be auditory hallucinations (including voices commenting on the actions of the subject and the echoing of thought), experiences of passivity (such as delusions of control), delirium of thought theft, thought diffusion and delusional perceptions.

The influence that this grouping of symptoms has had on subsequent diagnostic classifications has been very significant. Both the DSM and ICD manuals are largely inspired by the Schneiderian conception that there are nuclear symptoms (such as delusions and hallucinations) that may be accompanied by less specific ones.

2. Endogenous and reactive depression

Another of Schneider’s most important contributions is the distinction between two types of depression: endogenous depression, which would have a biological origin, and reactive depression , associated to a greater extent with psychological disorders, particularly due to negative life events.

At present, the usefulness of this distinction is highly questioned, largely because it is known that in the supposed “reactive depressions” the functioning of neurotransmitters is altered, in addition to the fact that a dualistic conception of psychology underlies Schneider’s idea. Nevertheless, the term “endogenous depression” is still popular.

3. The 10 types of psychopathy

Today we understand psychopathy in a similar way to antisocial personality disorder as described by the major diagnostic manuals. These ideas owe much to another of Kurt Schneider’s contributions: his description of psychopathy as an ambiguous deviation from normative behaviour, and of the 10 types of psychopathy.

Thus, this author created a non-systematic typology, based purely on his own ideas, thus differentiating psychopathy characterized by abnormalities in mood and activity , those of an insecure-sensitive and insecure-anxious type, the fanatical, the self-assertive, the emotionally unstable, the explosive, the insensitive, the weak-willed and the asthenic.