[History of neurology in the GDR: a systematic review]. / Neurologie in der DDR: eine systematische Literaturübersicht zur historischen Aufarbeitung.

BACKGROUND: Neurology as a discipline developed differently in the two German states after 1945 and little is known about neurology in the GDR. OBJECTIVE: This article examines the present state of historical research on neurology in the GDR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We systematically screened the existing literature from the period 1991-2021 and assigned the studies to different categories. RESULTS: We found significant regional differences in the way specific topics are addressed. We also identified a lack of a general overview on the subject and a lack of studies dealing with neurology within the specific socio-political context of the GDR. Comparative studies between the GDR and the BRD and between the GDR and other countries are also scarce. CONCLUSION: Further systematic research (in the form of a separate research project) into the history of neurology in the GDR and its role within the socialist healthcare system of the GDR is needed, taking comparative aspects into account.

Borderline personality organization and dissociation.

The relationship between Kernberg's psychodynamic model of personality organization (PO) and dissociation has not yet been explored. Seventy-two nonclinical subjects and 222 psychiatric patients completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Inventory of Personality Organization. Its Reality Testing subscale emerged as the most important predictor for all facets of dissociation. Discussing our results in the framework of Fonagy and coworkers' model of mentalization, we suggest that dissociation may reflect the preoedipal "pretend" mode of psychic functioning while impaired reality testing and psychotic experiences might be indicative of the "psychic equivalent" mode.

Deconstructing the myth of Pasewalk: Why Adolf Hitler’s psychiatric treatment at the end of World War I bears no relevance

Abstract Background Even more than 70 years after the end of WW II, questions regarding the personality of dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) remain unresolved. Among them, there is a focus on the problem of his state of mental health, in particular on the possible relevance of the medical treatment he received for a war injury at the military hospital of the small German town of Pasewalk in the last days of WW I. Some authors have come to postulate a profound change of his personality due either to a psychic trauma suffered or a hypnotic therapy he supposedly underwent for curing a hysterical blindness. Objectives The assumptions about Hitler’s war injury which rely on only two significant sources shall be assessed for their validity. Methods Existing historical sources and inferred hypotheses will be discussed in the light of alternative interpretations. Results The mentioned suppositions reveal their highly arbitrary character: neither a hysterical blindness of Hitler’s nor a hypnotic treatment at Pasewalk military hospital can be substantiated. Discussion Given the fact that Hitler’s medical sheet is most likely irrevocably lost, the authors plea for the acceptance of the limitations of historical research, even more so since the occurrences in Pasewalk lack any deeper importance for a historic assessment of Hitler’s personality.