Kurt Goldstein was born in 1878 in a part of Germany that is now Poland [1] Kurt Goldstein was mainly known for being a neurologist, and worked mainly with aphasia. Goldstein attended the Frankfurt Neurological Institute, where he practiced comparative neurology in the lab under Ludwig Edinger,.[2] In 1906 Kurt Goldstein started working in psychiatry and neurology, becoming acquainted with the Wurzburg school of experimental psychology.[3] In 1930 Goldstein became the director of a neuropsychiatric clinic and a professor at the university in the department of Neurology and Psychiatry in Berlin. At the age of 56 Goldstein started a new career in New York at the New York Psychiatric Institute and the Montefiori Hospital.[4] He passed away in 1965 after falling and experiencing the effects of aphasia.[5]


Biography

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Goldstein was quiet and shy, and was known as "the professor" because he loved books so much. He started out studying philosophy, then switched to medicine. [6] Goldstein got his Medical Doctor (MD) from Breslau in 1903. [7] He came form a relatively large family. He was the seventh out of nine children. [8] From 1906 to 1914, Golstein worked at a psychiatric clinic, where the lack of real treatment the patients in the clinic received eventually led him to his important work with brain injured soldiers in his own clinic. The publishing of his observations and treatments of people suffering from psychiatric and neurological disorders made him well known and respected. [9] Carl Wernicke and Ludwig Edinger were very important teachers for Goldstein. He studied aphasia under Wernicke, and neurology under Edinger.[10] Edinger also inspired him to work with brain- injured soldiers. [11] After arriving in America, Golstein became a citizen in 1940. He worked in several clinics and universities, including Harvard, Columbia, Brandeis, and Tufts.[12] He never truly felt comfortable living in America or speaking the language. [13] Goldstein died on September 19, 1965. Goldstein left over 200 publications at his death, most in German and English, and they spanned six decades.[14]

Goldstein's Struggle in Germany

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Goldstein was Jewish, and when Hitler started taking over, Goldstein was in jail for a short amount of time and then after that forced to leave the country. Kurt Goldstein was denounced to the Nazis by an assistant and charged with "leftist sympathis and jewishness". Goldstein was imprisoned and tortured while his assistant, and later spouse, Eva Rothmann worked on petitioning the Nazi, Matthias Heinrich Goering (who was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst by training) for his release.[15] Goldstein was supported by what was called the Rockefeller Foundation while he spent a year in Amsterdam after being forced to leave Germany by the Nazis. This was when he wrote his famous book, The Organism. [16]

Contributions to Psychology

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Some topics that Goldstein explored included the following: motor disturbances, sensory disturbances, the nature of hallucinations, alcoholism, manic-depressive states and schizophrenia. [17] Another aspect of contributions was that Goldstein discovered that the brain could compensate for damaged areas by having different neurons take over to make it "whole" again, although the damaged areas usually didn't work as well. [18] He also was an editor for the journal Psychologische Forschung (Psychological Research), which was a journal about Gestalt psychology. [19]

Quotes

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"Medicine appeared to me best suited to satisfy my deep inclination to deal with human beings and to be able to help them. The vague knowledge I had of medicine concerned mainly diseases of the nervous system, which seemed to me to be particularly in need of attention." ,[20]

References

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  1. ^ Pow, Stevens & Stahnisch, Frank W. Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965). Journal of Neurology, 261(5), pp. 1049-1050
  2. ^ Pow, Stevens & Stahnisch, Frank W. Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965)
  3. ^ Pow, Stevens & Stahnisch, Frank W. Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965). Journal of Neurology, 261(5), pp. 1049-1050
  4. ^ Pow, Stevens & Stahnisch, Frank W. Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965). Journal of Neurology, 261(5), pp. 1049-1050
  5. ^ Pow, Stevens & Stahnisch, Frank W. Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965). Journal of Neurology, 261(5), pp. 1049-1050
  6. ^ Pow, Stevens & Stahnisch, Frank W. Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965). Journal of Neurology, 261(5), pp. 1049-1050
  7. ^ Pickren, W. E. (2003). Kurt Goldstein: Clinician and philosopher of human nature. In G. A. Kimble, M. Wertheimer, G. A. Kimble, M. Wertheimer (Eds.), Portraits of pioneers in psychology, Vol. V (pp. 127–140). Washington, DC, US; Mahwah, NJ, US: American Psychological Association
  8. ^ “Kurt Goldstein and Holism” gestaltpsychotherapie.de
  9. ^ The Nature Institute. Kurt Goldstein (A Biographical Note). In Context, Fall 1999, pp. 14
  10. ^ Goldstein, G. (1990). Contributions of Kurt Goldstein to neuropsychology. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 4(1), 3-17. doi: 10.1080/13854049008401492
  11. ^ Goldstein, G. (1990). Contributions of Kurt Goldstein to neuropsychology. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 4(1), 3-17. doi: 10.1080/13854049008401492
  12. ^ Goldstein, G. (1990). Contributions of Kurt Goldstein to neuropsychology. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 4(1), 3-17. doi: 10.1080/13854049008401492
  13. ^ Pow, Stevens & Stahnisch, Frank W. Kurt Goldstein (1878–1965). Journal of Neurology, 261(5), pp. 1049–1050
  14. ^ Goldstein, G. (1990). Contributions of Kurt Goldstein to neuropsychology. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 4(1), 3-17. doi: 10.1080/13854049008401492
  15. ^ Pow, S., & Stahnisch, F. W. (2014). Kurt Goldstein (1878–1965). Journal of Neurology, 261(5), 1049–1050. doi:10.1007/s00415-013-7020-1.
  16. ^ Fancher, R.E. & Rutherford, A. (4th ed., 2012). Pioneers of Psychology. New York, W.W. Norton, pp. 182
  17. ^ “ Kurt Goldstein” ling.fju.edu.tw
  18. ^ Ludwig, David. Language and human nature: Kurt Goldstein's neurolinguistic foundation of a holistic philosophy. Journal of the History of Behavioral Science. Vol 48(1), 2012, pp. 40–54
  19. ^ Eling, Paul. Neurognostics Answer. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. Vol 21(1), 2012, pp. 119–125
  20. ^ Goldstein K. Autobiography. In: Riese W, editor. A history of psychology in autobiography. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts; 1967. pp. 147–166.
  1. “ Kurt Goldstein” ling.fju.edu.tw. retrieved 27 February 2015
  2. “Kurt Goldstein and Holism” gestaltpsychotherapie.de retrieved 26 february 2015
  3. Ludwig, David. Language and human nature: Kurt Goldstein's neurolinguistic foundation of a holistic philosophy. Journal of the History of Behavioral Science. Vol 48(1), 2012, pp. 40–54
  4. Eling, Paul. Neurognostics Answer. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. Vol 21(1), 2012, pp. 119–125
  5. Pickren, W. E. (2003). Kurt Goldstein: Clinician and philosopher of human nature. In G. A. Kimble, M. Wertheimer, G. A. Kimble, M. Wertheimer (Eds.), Portraits of pioneers in psychology, Vol. V (pp. 127–140). Washington, DC, US; Mahwah, NJ, US: American Psychological Association
  6. Goldstein, G. (1990). Contributions of Kurt Goldstein to neuropsychology. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 4(1), 3-17. doi: 10.1080/13854049008401492
  7. Fancher, R.E. & Rutherford, A. (4th ed., 2012). Pioneers of Psychology. New York, W.W. Norton, pp. 182
  8. Pow, Stevens & Stahnisch, Frank W. Kurt Goldstein (1878–1965). Journal of Neurology, 261(5), pp. 1049–1050
  9. The Nature Institute. Kurt Goldstein (A Biographical Note). In Context, Fall 1999, pp. 14