Historical Analyses of Disordered Handwriting: Perspectives on Early 20th-Century Material From a German Psychiatric Hospital.

Markus Schiegg,Deborah Thorpe

doi:10.1177/0741088316681988

Abstract

Handwritten texts carry significant information, extending beyond the meaning of their words. Modern neurology, for example, benefits from the interpretation of the graphic features of writing and drawing for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases and disorders. This article examines how handwriting analysis can be used, and has been used historically, as a methodological tool for the assessment of medical conditions and how this enhances our understanding of historical contexts of writing. We analyze handwritten material, writing tests and letters, from patients in an early 20th-century psychiatric hospital in southern Germany (Irsee/Kaufbeuren). In this institution, early psychiatrists assessed handwriting features, providing us novel insights into the earliest practices of psychiatric handwriting analysis, which can be connected to Berkenkotter’s research on medical admission records. We finally consider the degree to which historical handwriting bears semiotic potential to explain the psychological state and personality of a writer, and how future research in written communication should approach these sources.

Highlights

On May 11, 1784, Ann Ferguson of Perth, Scotland, suffering from diverse ailments, wrote a letter to Dr William Cullen, the owner of a successful private medical practice, with a request for advice
Cullen’s response begins, “I have with the utmost difficulty read your letter and if you do not hereafter write to me more distinctly or get some body to do it for you I will not look at any letter you write me.”1 Cullen’s statement reveals that he considered Ferguson able to regulate her handwriting quality consciously, and did not recognize any diagnostic potential in her disorderly writing
Our article moves on to describe the development of handwriting analysis in the history of psychiatry, and delineates its relationship with modern neurology

Summary

Introduction

On May 11, 1784, Ann Ferguson of Perth, Scotland, suffering from diverse ailments, wrote a letter to Dr William Cullen, the owner of a successful private medical practice, with a request for advice. There has hitherto been little consideration of how modern medical handwriting analysis can inform our knowledge of historical experiences of disorders that affect written communication. Our article moves on to describe the development of handwriting analysis in the history of psychiatry, and delineates its relationship with modern neurology This alignment is useful because, though neuroscience was advancing rapidly by the close of the 19th century, the treatment and care of patients with neurological conditions was often performed in a psychiatric context.. We examine unpublished handwritten material, writing tests and letters, from patients in an early 20th-century psychiatric hospital in southern Germany (Irsee/Kaufbeuren) We have chosen this material because it provides us novel insights into the earliest practices of psychiatric handwriting analysis and because we are able to present a hitherto underresearched historical text type with new opportunities for the examination of disordered handwriting. We evaluate the degree to which historical handwriting reflects the psychological state and personality of a writer, and we investigate how future researchers in written communication should approach these sources

Objectives

Conclusion