La ‘logica immanente’ della follia: Biochimica e fenomenologia in Roland Kuhn (1912-2005) (2020)
Molaro, Aurelio (Author)
Physis: Rivista Internazionale di Storia della Scienza
Volume: 55
Pages: 477-498
Publication date: 2020
Language: Italian
On the second International Congress of Psychiatry in Zürich (1957), Swiss psychiatrist Roland Kuhn (1912-2005) gave a report on the discovery of the antidepressant proprieties of imipramine. This fact was judged by Kuhn himself ‘absolutely extraordinary,’ and contributed to include Kuhn among the protagonists of a real ‘revolution’ in the psychiatric treatment of depressive states. Nevertheless, it ended up overshadowing his decisive role in the development of psychotherapeutic value of Daseinsanalyse. After briefly presenting Roland Kuhn in the context of Swiss psychiatry in the early 20th century and retracing the stages that led to his important discovery, this paper aims to analyse: 1) the specific dialectic between biochemical research and phenomenological treatment in Kuhn’s work; 2) his integrated conception of the human being in a ‘bio-psychological’ sense; 3) his profound critical awareness of limits and conditions of possibility of psychopharmacology in the treatment of mental disorders.
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