Which problems in early clinical psychiatry did Karl Jaspers try to address?

When Karl Jaspers began his research at the University of Heidelberg, he identified that clinical psychiatry lacked a systematic framework of knowledge despite being empirically based. The field focused heavily on diagnosis while largely neglecting therapy, and it struggled to integrate the diverse influences—ranging from anatomical and physiological to psychological and sociological—that affect human behaviour in those suffering from mental illness.1

To address these issues and establish psychopathology as a science, Jaspers sought to:

• Develop a precise language capable of describing symptoms of disease to ensure consistent recognition across different cases.1
• Create and refine methods appropriate for the various spheres of psychiatric study.1
• Introduce Phenomenology into the field, allowing for the direct investigation and description of phenomena as consciously experienced, independent of causal theories.1

These efforts culminated in his influential work, General Psychopathology, which critically synthesized available psychiatric methods into a cohesive whole.1