Eugen Bleuler | |
---|---|
Born |
Paul Eugen Bleuler 30 April 1857 Zollikon, Switzerland |
Died | 15 July 1939 Zollikon, Switzerland |
(aged 82)
Residence | Zürich |
Nationality | Swiss |
Citizenship | Swiss |
Alma mater | University of Zürich |
Known for | Coining the terms schizophrenia, schizoid, autism |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Psychiatry |
Institutions |
Rheinau-Zürich clinic Burghölzli clinic University of Zürich |
Doctoral advisor |
Jean-Martin Charcot Bernhard von Gudden |
Doctoral students | Manfred Bleuler Carl Jung |
Other notable students | Medard Boss |
Influences |
August Forel Sigmund Freud Gottlieb Burckhardt |
Influenced |
Carl Jung Hermann Rorschach |
Paul Eugen Bleuler (German: [ˈɔɪɡeːn ˈblɔɪlər]; 30 April 1857 – 15 July 1939) was a Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist most notable for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness and for coining the terms "schizophrenia", "schizoid", "autism", and what Sigmund Freud called "Bleuler's happily chosen term ambivalence".
Bleuler was born in Zollikon, a town near Zürich in Switzerland, to Johann Rudolf Bleuler, a wealthy farmer, and Pauline Bleuler-Bleuler. He studied medicine in Zürich and following his graduation in 1881 he worked as a medical assistant to Gottlieb Burckhardt at the Waldau Psychiatric Clinic in Bern. Leaving this post in 1884 he spent one year on medical study trips to Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris, to Bernhard von Gudden in Munich and to London. Thereafter he returned to Zürich to take a post as an intern at the Burghölzli, a university hospital.
In 1886 Bleuler became the director of a psychiatric clinic at Rheinau, a hospital located in an old monastery on an island in the Rhine. It was noted at the time for being backward, and Bleuler set about improving conditions for the patients resident there.
Bleuler returned to the Burghölzli in 1898 where he was appointed director.
Following his interest in hypnotism, especially in its "introspective" variant, Bleuler became interested in Sigmund Freud's work. He favorably reviewed Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud's Studies on Hysteria.