Kurt Beringer Psychiatrist, neurologist and pathopsychologist Date of Birth: 24.06.1893 Country: Germany

1. Biography of Kurt Beringer
2. Expedition and Career
3. Research on Experimental Psychoses
4. Contributions to Psychiatry

Biography of Kurt Beringer

Kurt Beringer was a German psychiatrist, neurologist, and pathopsychologist. He received his education at the universities of Heidelberg (1911-1914) and Cologne, where he obtained his medical degree in 1919. He worked under the guidance of K. Wilmanns at the Psychiatric Clinic of Heidelberg University from 1920 to 1924, and later became a private lecturer from 1926 to 1936.

Expedition and Career

During his career, Beringer took part in the German-Russian expedition to Mongolia and Buryatia to study the spread of syphilis in 1928. He briefly served as a neurologist in the city of Karlsruhe before interrupting his practice to participate in the expedition. From 1932, he held the position of extraordinary professor and chief physician in Munich. In 1934, he accepted the chair of A.E. Hoche at Freiburg and became the director of the Psychiatric and Neurological Clinic.

Research on Experimental Psychoses

Beringer conducted renowned introspective studies on experimental psychoses induced by intoxication and their association with happiness and altered perception after the administration of mescaline. His work on this topic was published in his book "Der Meskalinrausch, seine Geschichte und Erscheinungsweise" in 1927. Similar studies were carried out in Russia by A.B. Alexandrovsky in the 1930s. Beringer also investigated the intentional connections in the thought process of patients with schizophrenia and analyzed disturbances in motivation caused by frontal and diencephalic tumors and brain inflammations from 1941 to 1943.

Contributions to Psychiatry

Beringer was involved in studying issues related to child development, interpreting the "crisis of the three years" as a child's achievement of emancipation from their social environment. Alongside V. Meyer-Gross, E. Strauss, and V. Hansen, he co-founded the journal "Monatschrift der Nervenarzt" in 1929 and served as its editor. Beringer also played a role as an editor for the journal "Fortschritt der Neurologie."