Pseudodémence, de quoi parle-t-on ? Partie II : de Stertz à Alzheimer : une maladie psychogène après traumatisme

In his famous study of 1961, Leslie Gordon Kiloh argues that the concept of pseudodementia does not belong to any nosological system, is purely descriptive and does not imply an accurate diagnosis. The present work shows a very different conclusion. Initially, the term was introduced in German psychiatry to describe cases of hysterical psychogenic illness after trauma (psychogene Erkrankungen nach Trauma) in which the mechanism of inhibition was discussed. Topologically, we can even define its emergence in the Breslau's university and psychiatric clinic in which Wernicke, Stertz, Bonhoeffer and Alzheimer himself, promoted it. One should also note that the category of hysteria referred to an array of functional mental disorders, including “hysterical psychosis” (hysterische Psychosen).