Dutch professor of psychiatry, prolific writer and essayist.
EugŠne Antoine D‚sir‚ Emile Carp was the youngest son of E.A.D.E. Carp (1868-1926), a lieutenant-general of artillery. His mother was Jeanne Henriette Bezoet de Bie (1869-1926). Because of the job of his father he and his brother Johan moved a lot.
EugŠne Carp jr. followed the gymnasium in Gorinchem and Breda and went to study medicine from 1913 at Leiden. In 1921 he became a physician.
Carp studied neurology and psychiatry under Gerbrandus Jelgersma (Doeveren, 1 Nov 1859 ? Oegstgeest, 17 Aug 1942) who in 1899 at Leiden became the first Dutch Professor of Psychiatry. Jelgersma introduced Freud into the Netherlands on 9 February 1914 with the speech “Ongeweten geestesleven” (unknown life of mind). Freud was very pleased with this international breakthrough and published the speech in the German language.
Carp dissertated 10 July 1923 under Jelgersma on the topic ?Het manische element in de paranoia.? (The manic element in paranoia). On 24 October 1924 he held his first speech as a private lector at Leiden: “Over de waarde der moderne methoden van psychologische en biologisch onderzoek bij de beoefening der klinische psychiatrie” (About the value of modern methods of psychological and biological investigations in clinical psychiatry). In Carps times the studies of psychiatry and neurology were not yet separated. This happened in 1972, before that the term “zenuwarts” (nerve physician) was used.
On instigation of Jelgersma, Carp succeeded Jelgersma as Professor of Psychiatry at Leiden university in 1930, a post he would hold for 33 years minus three months in 1945. In 1964 he was followed up by J. Bastiaans for health reasons.
Carp worked and educated preferentially at the Psychiatric Hospital “Rhijngeest” (English: Pure Mind), now called Jelgersmakliniek. He only showed up for the obligatory theoretical college teachings for medical students at the University, but prohibited his graduates to follow his theoretical lectures as personal observations of the real patients were the best. Carp became the promotor of some 70 dissertations.
Carp was a prolific writer. Between 1992 and 1967 he published more than 230 works. As the writer of the 5 volumes of ?Leerboek voor Psychiatrie?, a series ?Neurosen en Psychosen? and as an editor of the ?Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde?, he had a great influence on Dutch psychiatric and neurological practice. In later life he wrote about phenomenology, philosophy (Sartre, Jaspers, Teilhard du Chardin) and world literature.
His biographer B.Stokvis (NTVG 99 IV 45, 5 nov 1955) saw an interesting development in his anthropological thinking, that started with the “homo reagens or naturalis” like the acting and reacting of the human body in a by senses and space determined “physical” world (1920-30) by studying histopatholoy of the nervous system (i.e. neurological disease), then went to the still deterministic psychoanalytic point of view of Freud, but in his later years he turned to the metaphysical and freedom aspects of our “being here” and being thrown into the material world (“homo spiritualis”) under the influence of Jaspers, Jung and others. He wrote intensively about existential problems as possible origins of disease and studied philosophers like Jaspers and Sartre. In his book “Teilhard, Jung En Sartre Over Evolutie” (1972) he tried to bridge them all, as he realised that the one (body) cannot live without the two other realms of human existence (mind, soul).
In that same year (1972) the Descartian Body-Mind problem was “solved” on Dutch Universities by splitting up the education of “zenuwarts” in Neurology (Hardware Brain science) and Psychiatry (Emotion and Mind science). But the spiritual word “soul” (zielkunde) was lost. Psychiatrist and psychologist became equivalent with what anti-psychiatrist Marten Toonder and anti-fundamentalist Multatuli called “zielknijper” (soul squeezer), a person who rationally tried to treat or convert “cases”, but neglected their human emotional and spiritual aspects.
Personal
In 1922 the as a Protestant born Gemini Carp converted to Catholicism, presumably because of his marriage to the Catholic Jeanne Catherine Bernardine Determeyer on 6 Nov 1923 at Spa. He met her on a vacation. They got no children, but Jaenne’s unmarried one-egg twin sister (b. 28 June 1898, Burgsteinfurt) soon moved in. The sparse visitors invited at home never knew who of them was his spouse! Jeanne died 28 juni 1983 in Spa, EugŠne Carp followed her on 10 August 1983 in Spa.
His biographer, the psychiatrist and philosopher Johannes Wilschut (b. 28 Nov 1950, Rotterdam) cites in his psychiatry thesis on the subject (16 June 2009, 13h45, VU Amsterdam) “Between psychiatry and philosophy, the dynamic psychiatry of EugŠne A.D.E. Carp” Karl Jaspers: “Man sieht den Menschen nicht deutlich in seinen Werken”.
Carp was a very private person, who never allowed students at his home. He separated home and work rigidly and was only known by his work. This led to speculation amongst students about Carp and his two brides. The ?cerebral? Carp was very formal and intellectual and was portrayed in a cartoons as having a big head and small body.
Carp had an elder brother, Johan Herman Carp (19 July 1893, Den Haag – 1`8 November 1979, Den Haag), who was a jurist and philosopher interested in Spinoza. Johan, who had been called a ?cerebral mystic? got on the weird path and became an advisor of Anton Mussert. He was sentenced for his idealistic and in his eyes well meant collaboration with the enemy to 12 years in prison after WW2. His brother E. Carp himself was sent three months home from Augustus till October 1945, because of his passive attitude during WW2. The relationship between the two ?cerebral? brothers is unclear. EugŠne had good reasons (shame, reputation loss) not to speak about his brother, but also Johan did not mention his famous brother in his autobiography. They kept their separate lives secret.
Carp had enduring friendships with the Catholic politician E.N. van Kleffens (1894-1983) en Ren‚ Dellaert (1906-1979), a Belgian professor of psychopathology.