Erices R (2021)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2021
DOI: 10.1007/s00278-021-00514-5
Background There is still a tendency to doubt scientific investigations that showed there was no systematic politically motivated abuse of psychiatry in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In fact, the reports of investigation committees since the 1990s and a detailed analysis of Stasi files of that time show that psychiatrization of people in the GDR for political motives did occur but only in individual cases; however the true dimension of these practices remains unknown. Objective Which needs for further research with respect to the assumed abuse of psychiatry in the GDR still exist? Methods New findings from the archives show that officials in the Federal Republic of Germany collected evidence for punitive psychiatry in the GDR. Results and conclusion The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) was convinced that it had found proof for politically motivated misuse practices in the GDR. This assumption was based on the testimony of a number of GDR refugees. If and how these findings were used further, is unknown. For an evaluation and estimation of the extent of the abuse of psychiatry in the GDR, further detailed analyses are needed. There are hardly any investigations concerning the regional medical administration, the practice of psychiatric assessment of individuals who qualified as enemies of the regime or the extramedical data registration of the mentally ill in the GDR.
APA:
Erices, R. (2021). Political abuse of psychiatry in the GDR New archive findings and research gaps. Psychotherapeut. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00278-021-00514-5
MLA:
Erices, Rainer. "Political abuse of psychiatry in the GDR New archive findings and research gaps." Psychotherapeut (2021).
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