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Johann Christian August Heinroth (1773–1843) is often ridiculed today as the man who proclaimed that the main cause of mental illness was sin. In fact, it would suffice to replace the term “sin” by that of “guilt feeling” to make him appear almost contemporary. Heinroth was a learned man, a foremost clinician, and the author of a complete theory of the human mind . . . . Conscience [probably “consciousness” in ET] originates neither in the external world nor in the ego, but in an Über-uns (over-us) which Heinroth seems to equate with Reason and a way to God. According to him, health is freedom and mental illness is a reduction or loss of freedom. This loss of freedom is a result of Ich-Sucht (self-love) [self-seeking or self-absorption] and of the various passions. Delusion is a disturbance of the intellect, even though its cause lies in passion.

The second volume of Heinroth’s textbook contains a systematic description of his psychotherapeutic methods: The first step consists of determining to what degree a pathological state requires therapeutic help, and then to evolve a specific therapeutic plan that will consider not only the symptoms but also the sex, age, occupation, personality, and economic and social conditions of the patient. This plan of treatment should also extend to the patient’s family and surroundings. One main concern is to abstain from any unnecessary or dangerous treatment [primum non nocere!]. Heinroth then describes in a detailed and practical manner the various treatments that should be given to the excited and depressed patients as well as to patients of all conditions. Once again, the reader marvels at the modern character of many of these concepts.

—Henri F. Ellenberger
The Discovery of the Unconscious (1970)

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— Nature — Commonplaces #177 — July/August 2023 —