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Editorial commentary
Eugen Bleuler and evidence-based psychiatry
  1. Stephen M Lawrie
  1. Correspondence to Professor Stephen M Lawrie, Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, Scotland UK; s.lawrie{at}ed.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2012-304330

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    Not so much a pioneer of EVIDENCE BASE MEDICINE as a visionary for evidence-based psychiatry

    Stam and Vermeulen1 argue persuasively that Eugen Bleuler (1857–1939) is an unrecognised proponent of evidence-based medicine.2 Bleuler saw the self-absorbed, wish-fulfilling, magical thinking they describe as a fundamental symptom of schizophrenia.3 Rather than suggesting doctors were ill, Bleuler was highlighting the dangers of a medical rigidity of thought and perceptions of infallibility.

    Bleuler was of course correct that many remedies of the day were unproven and likely to be ineffective or even dangerous, and that their apparent benefits could be attributed to the enthusiasm of pioneers, suggestion and spontaneous recovery. It is fascinating to read that he was one of the first …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors SML conceived and wrote the article.

    • Funding None.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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