["Psychiatric patient" as "somatisizing patient--"somatisizing patient" as "psychiatric patient". On the problem of the validity historical psychiatric categories].

This article critically examines the distinction between "somaticists" and "psychicists", which was, and still is, commonly made in the history of early nineteenth-century psychiatry. The analysis is based on a study of the protagonists of the different orientations (Heinroth, Jacobi, Nasse). It investigates the views held on the mind-body relation, the relevance of the "somatic" and "psychic" argumentations, the terminology of psychic disorders, their treatment, and the underlying ideologies. In contrast to the customary categorizations, differences cannot be clearly defined through characteristics of an either strictly "psychological" or strictly "somatic" argumentation, but are limited to variations in emphasis and focus. The author argues that the decisive differences can be located in the convictions held about the nature of the medical profession and about the right path to a professionalized "psychic medicine".