Psychiatry is inherently complex and vast amounts of material have been written on the topic. One of the largest collections of the extant material is archived in German Berrios’ personal library. The synthesis of this material has come to life through his rare powers of intellect, eidetic memory, and decades of early morning reading in a variety of languages. Its expression has taken many forms, including a series of conceptual histories on psychiatric topics. Conceptual history teases out the historical semantics of a concept, what it meant to people using the term in different ages, in different languages, against what contextual background. Accompanying German Berrios on these journeys has for many clinicians, academics, and others been a stimulating, thought-provoking, and mind-opening experience. An early adopter of and advocate for information technology in publishing both old and new, Berrios continues to influence the way we think, and his legacy will shape the minds of many people addressing the mysteries in the mind and brain sciences in years to come. This paper attempts to bring together some of the extraordinary characteristics of German the person and his remarkable contributions to scholarship.

Item Type:	Research Book Chapter
Keywords:	conceptual history, scholarship, linguistics, international
Research Division:	Health Sciences
Research Group:	Health services and systems
Research Field:	Mental health services
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Public health (excl. specific population health)
Objective Field:	Mental health
UTAS Author:	Kirkby, KC (Professor Kenneth Kirkby)
ID Code:	141217
Year Published:	2020
Deposited By:	Medicine
Deposited On:	2020-10-05
Last Modified:	2021-05-13
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