Hitler's Health

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During his twelve year tenure as Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler swung from the inspired military leader who took France in a matter of weeks to the Commander-in-Chief who allowed the same country's heavily defended coast to be invaded while he was asleep. He became so bad that Himmer speculated that he might even have syphillis. It is hard to argue that his physical and mental state did not affect the course of the war that seemed to have be won only to be dramatically thrown away. So what went wrong with Adolf Hitler?

Evidence


The problem with an assessment of Hitler's medical state is the lack of solid and reliable evidence. Hitler refused to submit to a complete physical examination during his Chancellorship because he believed a leader of Germany should be physically fit and did not want the German people to have doubts about his health. There is some evidence, derrived from various sources, from the physicians who treated him at different points in his Chancellorship. There is also the contraversial evidence of Hitler's 'autopsy'. Hitler's body fell into the hands of the Red Army as they took Berlin, and his corpse was supposedly examined before being repeatedly buried, dug up and, ultimately, burned. His alleged skull was unvield in Russia in 2000 and is widely, although not universally, accepted as being the genuine article, following comparissons with dental X-Rays held in American archives. There is also evidence as to Hitler's physical and, more pertinently, mental and emotional, state from those around him.

The symptoms


Like many people. Hitler recieved various relatively minor diagnoses over the course of his life. He had vocal chord polyps removed twice, suffered a leg iunjury in the First World War, ended the war back in Germany having been blinded by a gas attack and subsuequently suffered a shoulder injury during the 'Munich Putsch1'. There are, however, other presenting problems of various types that caused much speculation (such as Himmler's, above) which suggest, though inconclusively, an extremely significant medical diagnosis. They are as follows:

Physiological


Perhaps Hitler's most famous symptom is his tremor. Hitler suffered from an 'action' tremor2 in his left arm which spread to his left leg and ultimately his right arm and hand. An action tremor is the exageration of a movement that is already being made and might be seen in a normal person when, for example, trying (and failing) to thread a needle. Hitler suffered from a punctured right eardrum after an assasination attempt3 which was treated with a cocaine based anasthetic which Hitler regularly requested and for which he also requested increased dosage. Hitler also suffered from muscular weakness and heart problems, as well as abdominal pain.

Psychogical


Hitler's psychological symptoms were more numerous and, naturally, more difficult to qualify. There are chnages observable even from a distance of over sixty years. When Germany's Panzers swept so effectively across Europe (with the conquest of France perhaps their most notable success) Hitler4 owed much of their success to the tank commanders being allowed a tactical flexibility. However, by the time of The Battle of Stalingrad three years later the Generals were micromanaged to such a degree that one was caused to complain that he could do no more than move the guards outside his tent without permission from Hitler. The changes in Hitler's tactical thinking were also indicative persistence adherance to a single idea. As the Battle of Stalingrad progressed and German troops were surrounded by the Red Army, Hitler refused to sanction a breakout attempt. In El Alamein, too, where Rommel had previously enjoyed success fighting and running, Hitler specifically and unrelentingly refused to countenance any retreat.

Various other changes in Hitler's personality were observed by close associates of Hitler's, especially from 1942 onwards. While he was always a man with a temper, it was increasingly observed that his temper errupted in rages that were suddenly disproportionate to the nature of the provocation. However, on other occasions it was noted that Hitler remained calm in the face of simillar problems. Along with his erratic and extreme moods Hitler's thought processes, previously admired by colleages as being incisive, clinical and analytical, became muddled, disorgansied and focused obsessively on insignificant details. He once interrupted a discource about the progress of the Russian situation to enquire about the progress of flamethrower production, and insist that it be trebbled. He was observed to have become increasingly impulsive in his thinking. Hitler also suffered from periodic depression.
It is notable with many of these symtoms that they were seen, on a couple of occasions, to improve dramatically. His tremor disappeared almost entirely, for example, in the aftermath of the assasination attempt (see above) and his clarity of thinking was also seen to improve considerably. Although both would deteriorate again.

Diagnosis


Hitler has been the subject of numerous post-mortem diagnoses based on the above evidence. It is, howver, important to point out that none of these, even if correct, account entirely for Hitler. If you took someone could had been talking for twenty years about hanging every Jew in Germany and then gave them, for example, bi-polar disorder, you might get Hitler. An normal person with bi-polar disorder, or schizophrenia, you would not get a rampaging geonicidal lunatic hell-bent on European domination. That said, these are among the theories 'explaining' Hitler:

Amphetemine Toxicity


Although it is not officially listed among his prescribed medications, it is believed, based on the described affects of a 'pick me up' that Hitler began to routinely inject, that Hitler may well have been taking amphetmines. If this is the case then amphetemine abuse can account for many of the varying symptoms Hitler alledgedly experienced. The damage to Hitler could have been caused by Drug Toxicity, specifically 'neurotoxicity' which is damage caused to the brain by the drug in question. A 2005 study into the effects of ecstacy (A modified amphetimine called Methylenedioxymethamphetamine5)suggested a link6 between the drug and both 'affective disorders' (such as ADHD and Bi-polar disorder)and 'Anxiety Disorders (such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It is thought that this theory might also account for for the tremor in his left arm, although there is still a question mark over why the tremor spread as it did. The idea seems theoretically sound but rests on the unproved fact thta Hitler was taking sufficient quantities of amphetemines to cause such widespread reactions. Although it is true that the above psycholigal symptoms could have occured via mental illness, proponents of the theory argue that Hitler would have had to develop them unusually late in his life (he was 53 in 1942) and also suggest that the temporary absence of drugs from his system would explain the fluctuations in his mental state.

Bi-polar disorder


Following the link (above) to the Guide's entry on this condition will give you an extensive list of symtoms against which it is possible to 'judge' Hitler mental state. Many of them seem, on the basis of the testimony of his contemporaries, to apply to Hitler. Examination of the depressive list and the manic list both offer a compelling number of Hitler's notable characteristics. In a character as erratic and intense as Hitler it is easy to observe symtoms where there are only personality traits, but Hitler was diagnosed, while still alive, with depression, and it would also explain the 'motor agitation' the lack of sleep and the irrelevant focused attention. Although this may seem, on the face of it, a cut-and-dry diagnosis, it suffers from the fact that many of the symptoms were observed by colleagues rather than medical professionals. There is also the fact that, in his fifties, Hitler was untypically late for an onset of the disorder and the fact there was no recorded history of it in his family background. Neither of these, of course, are a conclusive rejection of this theory.

Schizophrenia


In terms of a tick-box diagnosis7 schizophrenia does score some points as it's diagnostic criteria typically feature problems with movement (such as musclar stiffness) speech (both slurring and confused speech) and paranoia. However the condition is generally characterised by paranoid dellusions and halucinations (both visual and auditory) which Hitler is not generally believed to have had. As with Bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia typically onsets earlier in life thatb it would have done in Hitler, often during teenage years.

Neurosyphillis

Neurosyphillis is a progressive and destructire brain infection which is an aspect of the tertiary (final) stage of syphillis. the main proponent of this particular theory, as has been already stated, was Himmler. The accounted symtpoms do include the muscular problems widely attributed to Hitler as well as taking on confusion, depression, irritability, poor concentration and confusion. The trouble is that they also include symtoms such as dementia for which there is no serious evidence. Until almost the end of his life, Hitler could be extremely lucid and clear thinking. His military planning for the so-called 'Battle of the Bulge' bore all the hall makrs of his best strategic thinking from six years previously. Most damning of all, there is no evidence at all, apart from some salacious gossip8 that Hitler suffered from the earlier stages of syphillis.

Is that it?


Were you hoping for a concrete diagnosis for a man who died in 1945 and was alledgedly incinerated by the NKVD 25 years later? No chance. There are too many problems with this field and it may be that a concrete diagnosis simply isn't possible. There has been no complete physicaly examination while Hitler was alive since he joined up in 1914, and even some of the historians who accept the Russian autopsy as geuine have question whether all of it is entirely reliable. On top of this no amount of physical evidence can make up for the fact that no psychological evaluation was performed on Hitler while he was alive and any such effort would be severly hampered by the fact that he is now, quite certainly, dead. This leaves doctors, psychiatrists and historians picking over the bones of some, often quite sketchy, evidence. Even here there are conflitcs. Assessments by historians are open to protests from the medical profession that their assessments (espcially their psycholigcal ones) are clumsy and crude. On the other hand studies by medics often fall pray to accusations of poor historical analysis, giving credence to stories and sources that historians themselves have generally dismissed. Until a historian, a doctor and a psychiatrist all get together to write a book, you're never going to get a widely accepted account, and probably not even then.

Yes, but look, didn't Hitler have, er...


Yes alright, alright. Hitler may have had only on testicle9. The Russians alledged in their autopsy report (one reason why not everyone believes the whole report) but there is no record of it in his army medical. Is that really the only reason you read this entire entry?

Related Links



For greater clarify on the complex autopsy conmtraversy, try this English language translation of an article from Russian newspaper PravdaOr thisArticle on the display of Hitler's skull from 2000 Or even this Wikipedia account of Hitler's Death
If all you really care about is humerous songs go to Wipidea Article on that very subject.
For an alternatibe picture of Hitler's mental health you mgiht try reading this New York Times Article
.

1 Hitler's failed attempt to take control of Munich, initially, via a Military Coup, for which he spent a year in prison2Also known as an 'intention' tremor3Members of the German military plotted to assasinate Hitler by planting a bomb in a briefcase. The bomb went off but Hitler survived4Who was still only Chancellor at this stage, but would later give himself the role of Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces5 Yes, that was cut and paste6The incidence of anxiety disorder in current users was 17% and 14% in ex users. For anxiety the results were 20% and 24%.7Which, in any psychological context is somewhat dubious8For more details see The rise of Hitler - His first 30 years9The other, according to some sources, is in the Albert Hall

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