Home > International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis > Klinische Studieüber Halbseitige Cerebrallähmung der Kinder [Clinical Study of Infantile Cerebral Paralysis]

This work, a monograph on the group of paralytic syndromes that constitute cerebral diplegia in children, has not been reprinted or translated.

The introduction presents the history of research on this illness. (I) Thirty-five case histories (II) and their classification into different groupings (III) make it possible to show their characteristics (IV). This analysis (V) is followed by a discussion of pathological anatomical factors (VI). The illness's relationship to epilepsy and infantile poliomyelitis, the differential diagnosis, and treatment options are discussed (VII-X). The final chapter contains a bibliography with 180 references.

This study refutes previous attempts to identify the etiological, cerebral localization-related, or process-related causes of this pathology: "The clinical picture of infantile cerebral paralysis proves to be independent of these etiologies." This diagnosis had only a descriptive value until the mechanisms of the central nervous system in adults and children became known. Important points to consider are the differential diagnosis from infantile hysteria, and the significance of psychological factors in the triggering of this disease.

JOHANN GEORG REICHENEDER

See also: Institut Max-Kassowitz.