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The Description of the Litigious Querulant: Heinrich von Kleist's Novella Michael Kohlhaas

Overview of attention for article published in Psychopathology, October 2014
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Title
The Description of the Litigious Querulant: Heinrich von Kleist's Novella <b><i>Michael Kohlhaas</i></b>
Published in
Psychopathology, October 2014
DOI 10.1159/000366562
Pubmed ID
Authors

József Gerevich, Gabor S. Ungvari

Abstract

Objective: To illustrate the use of fiction in understanding psychiatric disorders and refocus attention towards fiction as a valuable source of psychopathology, thereby contributing to the restoration of the narrative in psychiatry. Method: A psychopathological analysis of the novella Michael Kohlhaas written by Heinrich von Kleist, one of the outstanding literary figures of the German romantic movement of the early 19th century. Results: The protagonist of Kleist's novella, Michael Kohlhaas, a querulant horse trader, carries out an armed uprising disproportionate to the minor injustice of the unlawful seizure of his horses. Following unsuccessful attempts at legal recourse, Kohlhaas takes up arms against the authorities, and in the course of his uncompromising pursuit of justice eventually sacrifices his own and his family's lives. Kleist accurately portrays Kohlhaas' psychopathological development from a psychologically balanced, emotionally warm family man to one who causes utter destruction, mayhem and the loss of innocent lives. This literary work is a remarkably authentic, insightful and rich representation of litigious/querulant behaviour, described by classical authors as litigious paranoia, a diagnostic category currently subsumed under 'delusional disorder, persecutory type', in DSM-5 and 'persistent delusional disorder' in ICD-10. Conclusions: Kleist's novella offers important clues to better understand the development of litigious-querulant behaviour and the inner world of its sufferers. An analysis of the novella also illustrates the contribution that fiction could make to resuscitate the narrative as a complement to criterion-based diagnostic practice prevailing in contemporary psychiatry. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 42 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Spain 1 2%
Unknown 41 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 8 19%
Student > Doctoral Student 7 17%
Researcher 6 14%
Student > Bachelor 5 12%
Other 4 10%
Other 5 12%
Unknown 7 17%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 15 36%
Medicine and Dentistry 9 21%
Social Sciences 4 10%
Arts and Humanities 2 5%
Sports and Recreations 1 2%
Other 3 7%
Unknown 8 19%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 June 2015.
All research outputs
#15,309,583
of 22,769,322 outputs
Outputs from Psychopathology
#407
of 616 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#151,715
of 260,656 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Psychopathology
#9
of 19 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,769,322 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 616 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.0. This one is in the 21st percentile – i.e., 21% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 260,656 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 32nd percentile – i.e., 32% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 19 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 31st percentile – i.e., 31% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.