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Kleiner Hermann Kopf

This page is a part of an arts project titled The Kleiner Kopf Experiment.

The project is being developed by Emma Lohan and Marta Barcikowska.

The person describes a fictional character. The character is loosely based on a real researcher Theodore Meynert.

Kleiner Hermann Kopf (15 June 1855 – 31 May 1920) was a German-Austrian psychiatrist and neuropathologist born in Dresden. Kopf believed that disturbances in brain development could be a predisposition for psychiatric illness and that certain psychoses and disorders are reversible.

In 1871 he earned his medical doctorate, and in 1875 became director of the psychiatric clinic associated with the University of Vienna. He inspired and tutored many psychiatric talents if the era. Some of his better known students were Sigmund Freud, who in 1883 worked at Kopf’s psychiatric clinic, and Julius Wagner-Jauregg, who introduced fever treatment for syphilis, Russian neuropsychiatrist Sergei Korsakoff (1854–1900), German neuropathologist Carl Wernicke (1848–1905) and Swiss neuroanatomist Auguste-Henri Forel (1848–1931).

Brain research

Kopf focused his research on grand and seemingly unanswerable questions like: the nature of memory or origin of though, and also pathologies of the above processes which he believed manifested itself by mental illness and disorders. In order to answer the questions he started at the core, at the brain anatomy.

His research included brain anatomy, pathology and histology, and mapping of brain’s intricate pathways and topography. He made many contributions involving the study of the cellular architecture of the brain and is often considered to be the founder of cerebral cortex cytoarchitectonics, which is the study of the cellular composition of the central nervous system's tissues under the microscope.

Kopf developed theories in regards to correlations between brain anatomy and mental processes. He conceptualised that mental associations are created in a literal contact between cortical nerve cells linked to one another by nerve fibres, and a series of cortical associations could therefore be a "train of thought". He also theorised that ideas and memories are attached to specific cortical cells.

Mental illness research and development of personality test.

While working mainly on the brain anatomy and believing strongly it’s direct correlation with not only mental illness but also personality and personality disorders, Kopf has recognised the need to devise accurate personality tests as a useful diagnostic tool.

The origins of personality assessment date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, when personality was assessed through phrenology, the measurement of bumps on the human skull, and physiognomy, which assessed personality based on a person's outer appearances.

The methods were clearly unsatisfactory and Kopf  began working on a self-report questionnaire (Q-data), aided and supplemented with measures or reports from life records (L-data). The data from the tests would be stored and later, after the subject’s death, their brain would be examined to establish the links and correlations between brain anatomy and subjects personality.

The morbid method was met with public outrage, but the experiments were conducted legally and therefore it was not possible to stop them. However, after a rather unsatisfactory results from first 60 or so participants Kopfer abandoned the pursuit himself. His reasoning being that only an experiment on a live tissue could produce worthy results. And only a thinking mechanism could be used to “catch a though”, as he himself stated.

Regardless of his disillusionment, his work has laid a foundation to modern day psychology test.

Der Tanz Verein des Kopfes.

His less gruesome employments has had a far bigger influence on his contemporaries. His methods of adult brain stimulation and development have proved highly successful and he had amazing results in treating various ailments and disorders.

Kopf conceptualised that a conflict existing between the cerebral cortex and the subcortical regions is the primary cause for abnormal function of cerebral components, leading to mental illness. As a source of the conflict he identified a lack of "cerebral nutrition".

To aid the lack of “cerebral nutrition” he recommended music, poetry and dancing. The three components preferably practiced at the same time proved to be a powerful remedy. The cerebral cortex and the subcortical regions were stimulated and exercised which led to better alignment and development.

Der Tanz Verein des Kopfes, dance societies, were established and run in bigger cities of Germany and Austria. Soon the work of societies became very experimental in pursuit of more effective ways of stimulating the brain. His research inspired many artists, among others Isadora Duncan was a practitioner of Kopf Method. Kopf himself regarded art only as a useful tool and was mostly dedicated to his “real work” as he referred to psychiatry.

Kopf’s aim was to establish psychiatry as an exact science based on anatomy. In his 1884 textbook Psychiatrie. Klinik der Erkrankungen des Vorderhirns, Kopf forewords with the statement:

"The reader will find no other definition of 'Psychiatry' in this book but the one given on the title page: Clinical Treatise on Diseases of the Forebrain. The historical term for psychiatry, i.e., 'treatment of the soul,' implies more than we can accomplish, and transcends the bounds of accurate scientific investigation."

His research and career came to an abrupt end, when he was shot dead by his own, later diagnosed as “mentally unstable beyond repair” (extract from a court case document), student. The student, Jahn Klein, was reportedly disillusioned with Kopf Method which he has practiced with no results in hope of curing his own mental condition.

Kleiner Kopf and his research is still inspiring researchers and artists, the latest project being Kleiner Kopf Experiment by Emma Lohan and Marta Barcikowska. A project which uses and expands Kopf’s work on personality test.

Sources:

Theodor Meynert