Psychopathia Sexualis

This article is about the book by Richard von Krafft-Ebing. For other uses, see Psychopathia Sexualis (disambiguation).

The first edition of Psychopathia Sexualis (1886)

Psychopathia Sexualis: eine Klinisch-Forensische Studie (Sexual Psychopathy: A Clinical-Forensic Study, also known as Psychopathia Sexualis, with Especial Reference to the Antipathetic Sexual Instinct: A Medico-forensic Study) is an 1886 book by Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing and one of the first texts about sexual pathology. The book details a wide range of paraphilias and focuses on male homosexuality/bisexuality (the "antipathetic instinct" of the subtitle). Krafft-Ebing also coined the terms "sadism and masochism" as well as borrowing the term bisexual from botany in the book.

The Psychopathia Sexualis is notable for being one of the earliest works on homosexuality. Krafft-Ebing combined Karl Heinrich Ulrichs' Urning theory with Bénédict Morel's theory of disease and proposed the theory that most homosexuals have a mental illness caused by degenerate heredity. The book was controversial at the time, arousing the anger of the church in particular.

The book had a considerable influence on continental European forensic psychiatry in the first part of the 20th century. It is regarded as an important text in the history of psychopathology.

In 2006, an independent film based on the book was made in Atlanta; the film was titled Psychopathia Sexualis.

Editions

• the first edition was published in 1886
• at least 12 editions of the book were published prior to Richard's death in 1902
• in 1965 an English translation derived from the 12th German edition was written by Franklin S. Kaf who wrote an introduction to it, a forward was also added by Joseph LoPiccolo

External links

• Psychopathia Sexualis (French) at Project Gutenberg
• Psychopathia Sexualis at the Internet Archive
• Psychopathia Sexualis at Google Books