Seed and harvest - German psychiatry and psychology in Perú

Abstract

The influence of German psychiatry and German psychology in Perú was very strong in the beginning of the 20(th) Century. This is not well-known either in Germany or even in Perú or seems to be forgotten. The basis of it was the influence of German philosophy of the 19(th) and 20(th) centuries. A review is being given of the work of those that we consider to have been the pioneers of the German thought in these disciplines in Perú: Juan (Giovanni) Copello, Hermilio Valdizán (1885 - 1929), Dora Mayer (1868 - 1959), Enrique Encinas (1895 - 1971), Pedro Zulen (1889 - 1925), Honorio Delgado (1892 - 1967), Walter Blumenfeld (1882 - 1967), and some of their pupils. Without these it would not have been possible to advance in the knowledge, neither would it had been possible to set the basis for a national psychology and psychiatry. Due to the development of the American theories that cropped up in the fifties and invaded the theoretical field as much as the practical one in both, psychology and psychiatry, this era has come to an end. These latter theories now prevail in the current university teaching. The "indigenous" sources, which helped to develop the psychological thought in the country were left aside, but are still very vivid in the discussions of international ethnopsychology and ethnopsychiatry.