August Wimmer (1918) Hukommelsestab og “dobbeltbevidsthed”
Rating: ♥♥♥ (Very Good)
Very good paperback. Shelf worn, bend or chipped to a small extent and sunned, has all pages and leaves present, no tears in paper or spine. Exlib.
This 1918 publication by A. Wimmer represents an important contribution to Danish psychiatry at a moment of profound transition. Appearing in the immediate aftermath of World War I, the volume reflects a period in which psychiatric theory and clinical practice were being reorganized in response to new scientific ambitions, shifting institutional structures, and the growing influence of both biological and psychological explanatory models.
Som du selv skriver på siden, beskæftiger Wimmer sig med centrale psykopatologiske begreber, kliniske observationer og de teoretiske rammer, der organiserer forståelsen af mentale forstyrrelser. His work combines the dominant neurological and constitutional perspectives of the early 20th century with an emerging sensitivity to psychological processes, individual variation, and the social context of mental illness.
The volume examines the differentiation of symptom patterns, the role of heredity and temperament, and the relationship between physiological processes and mental states. Wimmer engages with the broader European debates of the time — including degeneration theory, early psychodynamic ideas, and the scientific study of abnormal behaviour — while grounding his analysis in the institutional realities of Danish psychiatric care.
Key themes in the 1918 volume
- early interwar diagnostic theory in Danish psychiatry
- clinical observation and systematic classification
- heredity, constitution, and environmental influences
- the intersection of neurology, psychology, and emerging social psychiatry
- European debates on psychopathology in the post‑WWI period
- foundational concepts in Scandinavian mental health history
For researchers, the volume offers valuable primary material for understanding how psychiatric knowledge was conceptualized in Denmark during a formative period, and how clinicians navigated the interplay between biological, psychological, and social explanatory models.
Collector’s Note
Psychiatric works from the immediate post‑WWI period are increasingly rare, and Wimmer’s 1918 volume is of particular interest due to its role in documenting the conceptual foundations of modern Danish psychiatry. The book is a strong addition to collections focused on early psychopathology, the history of psychiatric classification, and the intellectual development of Scandinavian mental health care. Well‑preserved copies from this era are especially uncommon and highly valued by scholars and institutional libraries.
Keywords (SEO)
- Wimmer Danish psychiatry
- early interwar psychopathology
- Scandinavian mental health history
- diagnostic theory 1910s
- clinical observation Denmark
- history of psychiatric classification
- early 20th‑century psychiatry
