Honorio Delgado
Encyclopedia
Honorio Delgado Espinosa (*Arequipa
, 26 September 1892 - † Lima
, 28 November 1969) was a gifted teacher, a creative researcher, a humanist, a philosopher, and scholar whose work covered almost 50 years of the 20th-century history of Latin American psychiatry. Born in Arequipa, Peru
, Dr. Delgado graduated from Lima’s Universidad de San Marcos.
’s psychoanalytic principles and included a frequent correspondence with the founder of psychoanalysis that extended until the late 1930s, long after Dr. Delgado had distanced himself ideologically from Freud. By the mid 1930s, Dr. Delgado had developed a major interest in phenomenology. He also systematically pioneered biological innovations in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. For instance, he introduced the use of sodium nucleinate in the management of psychotic agitation in 1917 and the use of phenobarbital for the control of seizures in 1919. He was also the first in Latin America to apply malaria therapy in the treatment of general paresis and the use of chlorpromazine in the treatment of schizophrenia. In 1957, he was one of the co-founders of the prestigious Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum in Zurich.
Dr. Delgado was a member of the exclusive Real Academia Española
, headquartered in Madrid
. He authored more than 450 articles and two dozen books on topics such as personality and character, the rehumanization of scientific culture, the spiritual formation of the individual, and ecology and existentialism. He co-founded, in 1918, the first psychiatric journal in Latin America, Revista de Psiquiatria y Disciplinas Conexas, the predecessor of the contemporary Revista de Psiquiatria. In 1953, he published a textbook of psychiatry that ultimately produced seven editions.
As Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at San Marcos University for almost 30 years, Dr. Delgado recruited and mentored a group of very talented academicians and researchers that came to be known across Latin America as the Peruvian School of Psychiatry. One of his most notable contributions to the field of psychopathology was the description of three fundamental concepts in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia: the disjunction between the inner and outer world of the patient (autism), the disjunction of the ego with respect to the content of consciousness, and the breakdown of basic categories of knowledge. He also anticipated the crucial role of attention and cognition in the phenomenology of schizophrenia, a process that he called atelesis, or the failure in the intentionality of thought (1). However, Dr. Delgado’s most visionary contribution was his anticipation of the development of the current psychiatric nomenclature, represented by the DSM series. Since the early 1950s, he had advocated the use of accurate descriptive diagnostic criteria, free of ideological biases and based on a multifactorial causality, with appropriate recognition of the biological basis of mental illness and of the hierarchization of descriptive criteria. At the same time, he emphasized the need for research to demonstrate diagnostic validity and for the recognition of different level of operations of the human psyche.
Dr. Delgado’s objective and critical approach to psychiatry and psychopathology, his integrative and humanistic approach to treatment, and his clinical/academic scope and strict technical conceptualization of scientific terminology were paralleled only by his legendary teaching abilities and the respect he has earned from generations of Latin American psychiatrists. His legacy goes beyond the borders of Latin America to join those of psychiatric leaders across the world.
Arequipa
Arequipa is the capital city of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru. With a population of 836,859 it is the second most populous city of the country...
, 26 September 1892 - † Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, 28 November 1969) was a gifted teacher, a creative researcher, a humanist, a philosopher, and scholar whose work covered almost 50 years of the 20th-century history of Latin American psychiatry. Born in Arequipa, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Dr. Delgado graduated from Lima’s Universidad de San Marcos.
Biography
The early part of Dr. Delgado’s career was marked by an enthusiastic adherence to Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
’s psychoanalytic principles and included a frequent correspondence with the founder of psychoanalysis that extended until the late 1930s, long after Dr. Delgado had distanced himself ideologically from Freud. By the mid 1930s, Dr. Delgado had developed a major interest in phenomenology. He also systematically pioneered biological innovations in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. For instance, he introduced the use of sodium nucleinate in the management of psychotic agitation in 1917 and the use of phenobarbital for the control of seizures in 1919. He was also the first in Latin America to apply malaria therapy in the treatment of general paresis and the use of chlorpromazine in the treatment of schizophrenia. In 1957, he was one of the co-founders of the prestigious Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum in Zurich.
Dr. Delgado was a member of the exclusive Real Academia Española
Real Academia Española
The Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
, headquartered in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. He authored more than 450 articles and two dozen books on topics such as personality and character, the rehumanization of scientific culture, the spiritual formation of the individual, and ecology and existentialism. He co-founded, in 1918, the first psychiatric journal in Latin America, Revista de Psiquiatria y Disciplinas Conexas, the predecessor of the contemporary Revista de Psiquiatria. In 1953, he published a textbook of psychiatry that ultimately produced seven editions.
As Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at San Marcos University for almost 30 years, Dr. Delgado recruited and mentored a group of very talented academicians and researchers that came to be known across Latin America as the Peruvian School of Psychiatry. One of his most notable contributions to the field of psychopathology was the description of three fundamental concepts in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia: the disjunction between the inner and outer world of the patient (autism), the disjunction of the ego with respect to the content of consciousness, and the breakdown of basic categories of knowledge. He also anticipated the crucial role of attention and cognition in the phenomenology of schizophrenia, a process that he called atelesis, or the failure in the intentionality of thought (1). However, Dr. Delgado’s most visionary contribution was his anticipation of the development of the current psychiatric nomenclature, represented by the DSM series. Since the early 1950s, he had advocated the use of accurate descriptive diagnostic criteria, free of ideological biases and based on a multifactorial causality, with appropriate recognition of the biological basis of mental illness and of the hierarchization of descriptive criteria. At the same time, he emphasized the need for research to demonstrate diagnostic validity and for the recognition of different level of operations of the human psyche.
Dr. Delgado’s objective and critical approach to psychiatry and psychopathology, his integrative and humanistic approach to treatment, and his clinical/academic scope and strict technical conceptualization of scientific terminology were paralleled only by his legendary teaching abilities and the respect he has earned from generations of Latin American psychiatrists. His legacy goes beyond the borders of Latin America to join those of psychiatric leaders across the world.