Kraepelin, Emil

(born Feb. 15, 1856, Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Strelitz—died Oct. 7, 1926, Munich, Ger.) German psychiatrist. He taught at the Universities of Heidelberg and Munich, where he developed an influential classification system for mental illness, the (nine eds., 1883–1926). He was the first to distinguish (in 1899) between manic-depressive psychosis (bipolar disorder) and dementia praecox (schizophrenia), and the first to distinguish three clinical varieties of the latter: catatonia, hebephrenia, and paranoia.

Find more information on Kraepelin, Emil. Upgrade to Britannica Online for more on Kraepelin, Emil.