General Psychopathology

work by Jaspers

Also known as: “Allgemeine Psychopathologie”

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June 29, 2026

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Karl Jaspers's General Psychopathology is a foundational work in understanding mental disorders. It critically examines various methods used in psychiatry, aiming to synthesize them into a cohesive framework. Jaspers, a philosopher and psychiatrist, approached psychopathology by focusing on direct experience and description of phenomena, a method influenced by phenomenology.12

The work distinguishes between scientific knowledge and philosophical interpretation, emphasizing that while science deals with observable facts, philosophy explores subjective experience and existence. Jaspers's approach sought to establish psychopathology as a science by developing a precise language for describing symptoms and appropriate methods for study. This text is crucial for professionals in psychiatry, psychology, and social work.21

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Karl Jaspers
Research in clinical psychiatry
…completed the Allgemeine Psychopathologie (General Psychopathology, 1965) two years later. The work was distinguished by its critical approach to the various methods available for the study of psychiatry and by its attempt to synthesize these methods into a cohesive whole.
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…completed the Allgemeine Psychopathologie (General Psychopathology, 1965) two years later. The work was distinguished by its critical approach to the various methods available for the study of psychiatry and by its attempt to synthesize these methods into a cohesive whole.
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existentialism
Emergence as a movement
through Jaspers’s Allgemeine Psychopathologie (1913; General Psychopathology), which was inspired by the need to understand the world in which the mental patient lives by means of a sympathetic participation in his experience. Later, the Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger, in one of his celebrated works, Über Ideenflucht (1933; “On the Flight…
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through Jaspers’s Allgemeine Psychopathologie (1913; General Psychopathology), which was inspired by the need to understand the world in which the mental patient lives by means of a sympathetic participation in his experience. Later, the Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger, in one of his celebrated works, Über Ideenflucht (1933; “On the Flight…
Read More