NEUROSYPHILIS IN ITALIAN PSYCHIATRY OF THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

MASSIMO ALIVERTI¹, B. PEZZONI³, ILARIA GORINI³, MARIANO MARTINI⁵, IGNAZIO VECCHIO², CRISTINA TORNALI⁴

¹University of Insubria (Varese), Italy - ²Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Italy - ³Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria (Varese), Italy - ⁴Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, Italy - ⁵Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), Section of History of Medicine and Ethics, University of Genoa, Italy

Based on Italian and international literature, the authors have studied nineteenth-century research into neurosyphilis in its main syndromic manifestations: tabes dorsalis and progressive paralysis. By examining some psychiatry handbooks of the time, it was possible to recover ample information about the symptomatology and the description of the clinical course of the illness. Moreover, the relationship between syphilis and mental illness became a conceptual paradigm which psychiatrists applied to other mental disorders as well. Our paper has brought to light the medical debates of the late 19^th century.