The views of Wilhelm Griesinger (1817–68) on suicidality or ‘self-murder’

Abstract

To date, little attention has been paid to the fact that a whole section in Wilhelm Griesinger’s textbook is devoted to suicidality. Griesinger perceived suicide as a distinct entity. In his opinion, only one-third of all suicides were committed by people suffering from mental disorders; heredity and brain anomalies could also be involved. Therapeutically, Griesinger recommended removing all potential means for suicide and admitting people at risk to a psychiatric hospital. Since his textbook was a standard work, his views reveal what young doctors could have learned about suicidality in German psychiatry of the second half of the nineteenth century.