Results of a study of mentally ill vagrants: The failure to recognize mental illness (Ergebnisse Einer Untersuchung Geisteskranker Landstreicher: Die Verkennung der Geisteskrankheit)

This classic text by the German psychiatrist Karl Wilmanns stands out as exceptional in the literature describing the psychopathology of mentally ill homeless people. Wilmanns' psychopathological descriptions are excellent, as are his observations of the disheartening failure to recognize dementia praecox in courts, prisons and workhouses, and the significant consequences of this failure for the patients. As he vividly shows, most patients manifested a wide range of severe psychiatric symptoms and signs that should have caught the attention of the courts, prison doctors, and even persons with no psychiatric knowledge. Wilmanns considers the main reason for this failure to be inadequate knowledge of psychopathology. Although dementia praecox (schizophrenia) is no longer a new concept, as it was at Wilmanns' time, we still see people with severe psychiatric symptoms roaming the streets and failing to benefit from timely recognition and treatment of their mental disorder.