Although Adolf Hitler was never formally diagnosed with any mental illnesses during his lifetime, he has often been associated with psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychopathy, and amphetamine psychosis, both during his lifetime and after his death. The disturbances have been incorporated into psychobiographies of Hitler. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts who have diagnosed the dictator as having such mental states include well-known figures such as Walter C. Langer and Erich Fromm. Other researchers like Frederick Redlich have not been persuaded that Hitler evidenced such disorders.
Background Difficulty of Hitler's psychopathography
In psychiatry, pathography has developed a poor reputation, especially diagnostics that have been carried out ex post, without the direct examination of the patient. It is even considered unethical . German psychiatrist Hans Bürger-Prinz went so far as to state that any remote diagnostics constitute a "fatal abuse of psychiatry". The immense range of mental disorders that Hitler has been credited with over time indicates how inconclusive this method can be. Another example of the deficiencies present in many of the following Hitler-pathographies is an either completely absent or grossly abbreviated discussion of the abundance of publications which have already been submitted on this subject by other authors.
In the case of Hitler, psychopathography poses particular problems. First, authors who write about Hitler's personal matters have to deal with the problem that a possibly voyeuristic readership uncritically accepts even the most sparsely proven speculations – such as that which happened in the case of Lothar Machtan's book The Hidden Hitler (2001). Some authors warn that pathologising Hitler would inevitably mean discharging him of at least some responsibility for his actions.
Others fear that by pathologising or demonising Hitler, all the blame for the crimes of Nazi Germany could be placed entirely on him, whilst the populace and those in positions of power who enabled Hitler to rule would consequently be relieved from responsibility.Als ein Volk ohne Schatten! In: Die Zeit, No. 48, November 21, 1986 Famed is Hannah Arendt's invention of the phrase the "banality of evil"; in 1963, she stated that for a Nazi perpetrator as Adolf Eichmann, mental normality and the ability to commit mass murder were not mutually exclusive. Harald Welzer came to a similar conclusion in his book Täter. Wie aus ganz normalen Menschen Massenmörder werden [Perpetrator. How ordinary people become mass murderers].
In his 2015 biography, Peter Longerich pointed out how Hitler implemented his political goals as a strong dictator, with assertiveness, high readiness to assume risk and unlimited power.Peter Longerich: Hitler. Biographie. Siedler, Munich 2015, Some authors were fundamentally opposed to any attempt to explain Hitler, for example by psychological means.The Jewish theologian and Holocaust survivor Emil Fackenheim, among others, believed that a radical evil such as the evil in Hitler, could not be explained by humans, but only by God, and God kept silent; Emil Fackenheim, Yehuda Bauer: The Temptation to Blame God. In: Rosenbaum, Ron. Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil. Harper Perennial: New York, 1999. Claude Lanzmann went further, labeling such attempts "obscene"; after the completion of his film Shoah (1985), he felt such attempts bordered on Holocaust denial, with particular criticism directed towards historian Rudolph Binion.Claude Lanzmann and the War Against the Question Why. In: Rosenbaum (1999), pp. 251–266; Lanzmann, Claude. Hier ist kein Warum. In: Stuart Liebman (Editor). Claude Lanzmann's Shoah: Key Essays, Oxford University Press, 2007. ; Lanzmann, Claude; Caruth, Cathy; Rodowick, David. The Obscenity of Understanding. An Evening with Claude Lanzmann. In: American Imago, 48, 1991, pp. 473–495
As psychiatrist Jan Ehrenwald has pointed out, the question as to how a possibly mentally ill Hitler could have gained millions of enthusiastic followers who supported his policies until 1945 has often been neglected. Daniel Goldhagen argued in 1996 that Hitler's political ascent was not in any way related to his psychopathology, but rather was a consequence of the precarious social conditions that existed at that time in Germany.Goldhagen, Daniel. Hitler's Willing Executioners. Alfred Knopf: New York, 1996; Hans-Ulrich Wehler shared the same view: Geschichte als historische Sozialwissenschaft. Frankfurt am Main, 1973, p. 103. Some authors have noted that figures such as Charles Manson and Jim Jones, who have been described as having a severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, nonetheless succeeded in having a tremendous influence on their groups of followers.Coolidge, Frederic L.; Davis, Felicia L.; Segal, Daniel L.. Understanding Madmen: A SSM-IV Assessment of Adolf Hitler . In: Individual Differences Research 5, 2007, pp. 30–43.
Early on, the view was also expressed that Hitler was able to handle his psychopathology skillfully, and was aware of how he could use his symptoms to effectively steer the emotions of his audience.For example: Murray, Henry A. Analysis of the personality of Adolf Hitler. With predictions of his future behavior and suggestions for dealing with him now and after Germany's surrender, 1943. Online: "Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler" Other authors have suggested that Hitler's followers themselves were mentally disturbed.For example Langer: Walter Langer is dead at 82; wrote secret study of Hitler New York Times; A Psychological Profile of Adolf Hitler. His Life and Legend (Online); Eckhardt, William. The Values of Fascism. In: Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 24, 1968, pp. 89–104; Muslin, Hyman. Adolf Hitler. The Evil Self. In: Psychohistory Review, 20, 1992, pp. 251–270; Berke, Joseph. The Wellsprings of Fascism: Individual Malice, Group Hatreds and the Emergence of National Narcissism, Free Associations, Vol. 6, Part 3 (Number 39), 1996; Lothane, Zvi. Omnipotence, or the delusional aspect of ideology, in relation to love, power, and group dynamics. In: American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1997, Vol. 57 (1), pp. 25–46 Evidence for this claim was not produced.Psychological evaluations of Nazi leaders didn't show any signs of mental disturbances (Zillmer, Eric A.; Harrower, Molly; Ritzler, Barry A.; Archer, Robert P. The Quest for the Nazi Personality. A Psychological Investigation of Nazi War criminals. Routledge, 1995. ) In 2000, the question of how Hitler's individual psychopathology might have been linked with the enthusiasm of his followers was first discussed by the interdisciplinary team of authors Matussek, Matussek, and Marbach.
List of alleged disorders Alleged disorder Author(s) Hysteria, histrionic personality disorder Wilmanns , Murray , Langer , Binion , Tyrer Schizophrenia, paranoia Vernon , Murray , Treher , Schwaab , Tyrer , Coolidge/Davis/Segal Psychotic symptoms due to drug abuse Heston/Heston Psychotic symptoms due to physical illness Gibbels , Hesse , Hayden Narcissistic personality disorder Sleigh , Bromberg/Small , Coolidge/Davis/Segal Sadistic personality disorder Coolidge/Davis/Segal Borderline personality disorder Bromberg/Small , Victor , Dorpat , Coolidge/Davis/Segal Post-traumatic stress disorder Dorpat , Koch-Hillebrecht , Vinnai , Coolidge/Davis/Segal Abnormal brain lateralization Martindale/Hasenfus/Hines Schizotypal personality disorder Rappaport , Waite Dangerous leader disorder Mayer Bipolar disorder Hershman/Lieb Asperger syndrome Fitzgerald
Hysteria Hitler in Pasewalk military hospital (1918)
Oswald Bumke, a psychiatrist and contemporary of Hitler, assumed Hitler was never examined by a psychiatrist.Bumke, Oswald. Erinnerungen und Betrachtungen. Der Weg eines deutschen Psychiaters, Richard Pflaum: München, 2nd ed., 1953. The only psychiatrist whom Hitler demonstrably met personally – Munich professor Kurt Schneider – was not Hitler's physician.Schneider briefly made Hitler's acquaintance when the latter visited an old and at this time mentally deranged party comrade from the early days of his political activity at the Schwabing Hospital. Public Mental Health Practices in Germany ; Schenck, Ernst Günther. Patient Hitler. Eine medizinische Biographie, Droste: Düsseldorf, 1989. , p. 514. While medical documents that allow conclusions about Hitler's physical health have been found and made accessible for research, there is a lack of original documents that allow for an assessment of his mental condition.Armbruster (2009); Redlich, Fritz. Hitler. Diagnose des destruktiven Propheten, Werner Eichbauer: Vienna, 2002. ; Schenck, Ernst Günther. Patient Hitler. Eine medizinische Biographie, Verlag Droste, 1989.
Speculations about a possible psychiatric evaluation of Hitler, in his lifetime, focus on his stay in a military hospital, Pasewalk, at the end of 1918. Hitler was admitted to the hospital after mustard gas poisoning, to which he was exposed during a battle in Flanders. In Mein Kampf, he mentions this hospital stay in connection with his painful temporary blindness, and with the "misfortune" and "madness" of the German revolution of 1918–19 and of Germany's defeat in World War I, both of which he learned about during his recovery, which triggered a renewed blindness. Hitler and his early biographers, took great notice of his strong physical response to the historic events, because this relapse into blindness identified the turning point in which Hitler felt the vocation to become a politician and Germany's saviour.Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf, 13th ed., 1933, pp. 220–225.
Already in Hitler's lifetime, some psychiatrists judged that such a relapse without organic explanation must be described as a hysterical symptom.Oswald Bumke. Erinnerungen und Betrachtungen. Der Weg eines deutschen Psychiaters. München: Richard Pflaum. 2nd ed,. 1953; see also Murray (1943) The diagnosis of hysteria had its peak heyday with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, but was still in use in the 1930s and 1940s. Loss of the sense organs were among typical symptoms, in addition to self-centred and theatrical behaviour. Psychiatrist Karl Wilmanns supposedly said in a lecture: "Hitler has had a hysterical reaction after being buried alive in the field"; Wilmanns then lost his position in 1933.Pieper, Werner. Highdelberg: Zur Kulturgeschichte der Genussmittel und psychoaktiven Drogen, 2000, p. 228; Lidz, R.; Wiedemann, H. R. Karl Wilmanns (1873–1945). ... einige Ergänzungen und Richtigstellungen. In: Fortschritte der Neurologie, 1989, Vol. 57, pp. 160–161 His assistant, Hans Walter Gruhle, suffered professional disadvantages due to similar statements.Riedesser, P.; Verderber, A. "Maschinengewehre hinter der Front". Zur Geschichte der deutschen Militärpsychiatrie, Fischer: Frankfurt/Main, 1996. In modern psychiatry, the term "hysteria" is no longer in use. Today, corresponding symptoms are associated with dissociative disorder or histrionic personality disorder.
Little is known about Hitler's hospital stay. It is not even certain what symptoms were presented. Hitler's medical record from Pasewalk that could confirm or refute a diagnosis was already considered lost in the late 1920s.Armbruster, Jan. Edmund Robert Forster (1878–1933). Lebensweg und Werk eines deutschen Neuropsychiaters, Matthiesen: Husum, 2006.
A Psychiatric Study of Hitler (1943)