Researchers in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, medicine and theology have made exhaustive efforts to shed light on the elusive biography/pathography of the great Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55). This ‘bicentennial’ article reviews his main pathographical diagnoses of, respectively, possible manic-depressive [bipolar] disease, epilepsy, complex partial seizure disorder, Landry-Guillain-Barré’s acute ascending paralysis, acute intermittent porphyria with possible psychiatric manifestations, and syphilidophobia.
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CourvilleCMasonVR (1931) Acute ascending paralysis (Landry’s paralysis) with acute idiopathic hematoporphyria. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry25: 848–854.
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GarffJ (2007) Søren Kierkegaard. A Biography. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
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GeismarE (1926–28) Søren Kierkegaard. Hans Livsudvikling og Forfattervirksomhed [Kierkegaard. His Biography and Works], I–II. Copenhagen: Gads Forlag.
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GuillainGBarréJAStrohlA (1916) Sur un syndrome de radico-nevrite avec hyperalbuminose du liquid céphalo-radiculaire cellulaire. Remarques sur les caractères cliniques et graphiques des reflexes tendineux. Bulletins société Médicale des Hôpitaux de Paris40: 1462–1470.
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HansenHHansenLB (1988) The temporal epilepsy syndrome elucidated through Søren Kierkegaard’s authorship and life. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica77: 352–358.
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HansenLB (1994) Søren Kierkegaards hemmelighed og eksistensdialektik [Kierkegaard’s Secret and Dialectics of Existence]. Copenhagen: CA Reizel.
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HeibergPA (1895) Bidrag til et psykologisk Billede af Søren Kierkegaard i Barndom og Ungdom [Contribution to a Psychological Portrait of S. Kierkegaard in Childhood and Youth]. Copenhagen: Wroblewski.
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HeibergPA (1912) En Episode i Søren Kierkegaards Ungdomsliv [An Episode in Kierkegaard’s Youth]. Copenhagen and Kristiania: Gyldendal.
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HelmigO (1971) Spondylitis tuberculosa [doctoral dissertation]. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press; in Danish.
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HelwegH (1933) Søren Kierkegaard. En psykiatrisk-psykologisk studie [Kierkegaard. A Psychiatric-Psychological Study]. Copenhagen: Hagerups Forlag.
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JacobsenJO (1955) Søren Kierkegaards sidste svære dage [Kierkegaard’s last difficult days]. Dagens Nyheder (13Nov.).
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JørgensenCA (1964) Søren Kierkegaard. En biografi med særligt henblik paa hans personlige etik [Kierkegaard. A Biography Especially Regarding his Personal Ethics], esp. Vols. 1–5. Copenhagen: Nyt Nordisk Forlag.
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NutzhornDA (1850) Kampherforgiftning [Camphor intoxication]. Bibliotek for Læger8: 84–85, 86.
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OstenfeldI (1957) Poul Kierkegaard. En skæbne [Poul Kierkegaard. A Destiny]. Copenhagen: Nyt Nordisk Forlag.
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OstenfeldI (1978) Søren Kierkegaard’s Psychology, translated and edited by McKinnonA.Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier University Press (The Kierkegaard Monograph Series); originally published in Danish in 1972.
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PearceJM (2008) Leopold Auenbrugger: camphor-induced epilepsy – a remedy for manic psychosis. European Neurology59: 105–107.
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RohdePP (1959) Søren Kierkegaard mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten. Hamburg: Rowohlt.
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SaggauC (1958) Skyldig-ikke skyldig. Et par kapitler af Michael og Søren Kierkegaards ungdomsliv [Guilty-Not Guilty. A Couple of Chapters on Michael and Søren Kierkegaard’s Youth]. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
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SchioldannJ (2013) Introduction: ‘Struenseé’s memoir on the situation of the King’ (1772), Christian VII of Denmark. History of Psychiatry24:227–238.
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SchouHI (1924) Religiøsitet og sygelige Sindstilstande. Seks Forelæsninger [Religiosity and Mental Illnesses. Six Lectures]. Copenhagen: Gads Forlag.
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StaubrandJ (1989) Spørgsmålstegnet ved dødsårsagen i Søren Kierkegaards sygejournal [The question mark regarding the cause of death in Søren Kierkegaard’s medical record]. Dansk medicin-historisk årbog18: 142–166.
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StaubrandJ (2009) Søren Kierkegaard’s Illness and Death. Sygdom og død. Copenhagen: Underskoven; in English and Danish.
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SøgaardI (1991) Sørens sidste sygdom [Søren’s last illness]. Dansk medicin-historisk årbog19: 9–34.
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