Julius Ludwig August Koch (1841-1908): Christian, philosopher and psychiatrist.

Being deeply rooted in a Christian faith and having much interest in moral and ethical issues, Koch published some philosophical works Die Wirklichkeit und ihre Erkenntnis (Reality and its knowledge; Koch, 1886), in which he tried to bring together critical Kantian philosophy and Christian conviction. In 1888 he published Kurzgefasster Leitfaden der Psychiatrie (Short Textbook of Psychiatry). The next work, entitled Die psychopathischen Minderwertigkeiten (Psychopathic Inferiority; Koch, 1891-93) became one of his fundamental texts on the concept of personality disorders, a concept still used today. Although psychiatric disorders are nowadays classified differently, Koch's work still has great importance for the concept of personality disorders; furthermore, he provides very exact and detailed descriptions of a multitude of psychopathological symptoms.