stand up against: hitler didn't have asperger
16 May 2011, 8:49 am
As debated as Hitler's physical medical issues may be, his mental health is a minefield of theories and speculation. This topic is very controversial, as many believe that if a psychological cause can be found for Hitler's behavior, there would be more reasoning behind his actions.
Waite, who authored an extensive psychohistory of Hitler, concluded that he suffered from borderline personality disorder, which manifested its symptoms in numerous ways and would imply Hitler was in full control of himself and his actions. Others have proposed Hitler may have been schizophrenic, based on claims that he was hallucinating and delusional during his last year of life. Many people believe that Hitler had a mental disorder and was not schizophrenic nor bipolar, but rather met the criteria for both disorders, and was therefore most likely a schizoaffective. If true, this might be explained by a series of brief reactive psychoses in a narcissistic personality which could not withstand being confronted with reality (in this case, that he was not the "superman" or "savior of Germany" he envisioned himself to be, as his plans and apparent early achievements collapsed about him). In addition, his regular methamphetamine use and possible sleep deprivation in the last period of his life must be factored into any speculation as to the cause of his possible psychotic symptoms, as these two activities are known to trigger psychotic reactions in some individuals. However, Hitler never visited a psychiatrist, and under current methodology, any such diagnosis is speculation.
Michael Fitzgerald, an expert in autism spectrum disorders, concludes that Hitler suffered from, and met all the criteria of Asperger syndrome as documented by Hans Asperger. As evidence of possible Asperger's, Fitzgerald cites Hitler's poor sleep patterns, food fads, dislike of physical contact, inability to forge genuine friendships, and an emptiness in his human relations. His conversations in the Men’s Home in Vienna were really harangues and invited no reciprocity, for which he seemingly lacked capacity. In Munich, Hitler was distant, self-contained, withdrawn and without friends. His comrades noted that he had no humanitarian feelings, that he was single-minded and inflexible. He was obsessive and rarely made good or interesting company, except in the eyes of those who shared his obsessions or those in awe of, or dependent on him.
As far as hobbies or pastimes were concerned, Hitler spent a great deal of time examining architectural plans with Albert Speer, an activity that remained a major focus of his life throughout. His other major interest was in the music of Richard Wagner. His greatest interest, clearly, was in control of and power over people.
Fitzgerald further states that Hitler was an ideologue with unshakable convictions, and had a bed compulsion, which demands that the bed be made in a particular way with the quilt folded according to a prescribed pattern, and that a man must make the bed before he could go to sleep. He did not use language for the purpose of interaction with others, but only for the purpose of dominating others. He endlessly engaged in long-winded and pedantic speeches, with "illogical arguments full of crude comparisons and cheap allusions." He was unable to carry on a normal conversation or discussion with people. Even if only one other person was present, he had to do all the talking. His manner of speech soon lost any conversational qualities it might have had and took on all the characteristics of a lecture that easily developed into a tirade. He simply forgot his companions and behaved as though he were addressing a multitude, repeating the same stories over and over again in exactly the same form, almost as though he had memorised them. After the First World War, "his awkward mannerisms" were noted. At that time, he wore his gangster hat and trenchcoat over his dinner jacket, toting a pistol and carrying as usual his dog whip, he cut a bizarre figure in the salons of Munich’s upper-crust. But his very eccentricity of dress and exaggerated mannerism saw him lionized by condescending hosts and fellow guests. In his early days, he wore the Bavarian costume. His clothes were not clean; with his mouth full of brown, rotted teeth and his long fingernails, he presented a rather grotesque figure. His gait was a very lady-like walk; dainty little steps. Every few steps he ****** his right shoulder nervously, his left leg snapping up as he did so. He also had a tic in his face that caused the corner of his lips to curl upwards. People found his look "staring and dead."
Fitzgerald claims, therefore, that Adolf Hitler met the criteria for autistic psychopathy described by Hans Asperger, and was not schizophrenic.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 205AAHDPOI
Don't know where the person who posted that answer found that text, but I still doubt Hitler had Asperger's.
16 Mar 2012, 4:08 am
This is quite an interesting topic, but I agree to some of you that people want to give Hitler a "mental disorder" to partly justify his behaviour.
But I think it is quite easy to say, Hitler had a difficult youth, and was poor at everything but the languages and history at school. I have a disharmonic intelligence profile, which means my verbal intelligence (left-hemisphere) is much more developed , than my right hemisphere (performance) this means I am a great speaker, and philosophy and history are my favorite subjects. But when it's about the world, people with this "strange" intelligence profile, might not connect things in the world with eachother, which makes they have a strange view of the world. I am also quite shy in public, and my social qualities are quite good, except when talking informal to people I don't know in big spaces with many people. I think Hitler might have had the same, it doesn't make you mad, and people with this intelligence profile seem to be very intelligent when you speak with them, but it can make you think wrongly about the world.
Please excuse me for my poor knowledge of the English language, I'm fourteen and I'm Dutch, not American.
16 Mar 2012, 4:14 am
And as an answer to mr. Fitzgerald's research, people with my intelligence profile (verbal very high, performance normal to above normal), have an overlap with asperger's syndrome. I always have had sleeping problems, I am a bit shy in my social contact, and I miss the emotional part of the social contact, I want to talk about interesting things, not about a new Iphone or etc.
16 Mar 2012, 4:59 am
I think Hitler is having so much more attributed to him than one person can, do people really think that Hitler was solely responsible for every action that occurred, that he single handedly kept the german people in his control. He was a nugget of pure evil that corrupted the country?
He was just a man, but he wasn't alone there were people who believed in him, shared his views, there was a country that did so too.
Hitler is just being made into an anti-idol (is there a word for that?), a focus for vilification to avoid actually considering the truth that real normal people thousands, millions of them can go off the rails, and end up being part of a terrible thing, knowingly or unknowingly.
Aspergers is just a convenient and fashionable label to pin on him, don't worry he'll be called something else later when some social scientists and psychologists further analyse society and identify traits that have existed since forever, and then give it a name.
Hitler studies is just a weird syndrome in itself, I mean really, he was a bad man, he did bad things, he is dead now. Thats all you need to know. The obsession of trying to reinvent the persona of Hitler to meet with the current thinking is ridiculous.
Sweetleaf
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Joined: 6 Jan 2011
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16 Mar 2012, 1:53 pm
I think people forget something we learned a long time ago.
"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts ABSOLUTELY" Weird, but sane people can indeed become monsters in certain situations. That doesn't mean we are all bad, it just means to be careful. Especially in how much power you let ANYONE hold..
Just saying..
Matt
16 Mar 2012, 1:58 pm
Didn't read most of the posts. Just sayin, Hitler was abused as a child supposedly, so that should be taken into account when you guys are trying to diagnose him.
16 Mar 2012, 2:13 pm
I think Hitler got that way because of his childhood and how people treated him so he turned into a monster. But no people do not want to accept this, they do not want to accept that abusing someone and treating someone badly can turn them into bad people. But it could have also been a coincidence we will never know. Even if he were to have a happy childhood, have lots of friends and lot of people liked him and respected him and no one called him a loser and he became an architect like he wanted, he may have still became a monster but we'll never know.
16 Mar 2012, 8:15 pm
There's a great book called Hitler:The Pathology of Evil.
It's worth a read, the author goes into his past history and how it affected him.
On a personal note:
As for his DX, heck even though I have a B.S. in Psychology I'm not even going to attempt to "diagnose" him. (I'd have to have my PhD or PsyD and have my own practice, even then I still wouldn't qualify). I can draw hypothesis based on what I've read but no one will know for sure. For one he's a dead dictator. But a fascinating historical character nonetheless, so I can easily see why there are so many hypothetical debates on him and his psychological conditions.
But I don't agree with a lot of Psych literature. But that's a while different debate.
18 Mar 2012, 3:18 pm
how can an autistic person deal with politics? doesn't that require an understanding of the human nature, and being diplomatic, kissing up to the right people? how can one drag other people after him without knowing how to talk to their darkest side? aspies don't make good salespeople, or politicians. imagine a priminster that always says the wrong thing because he has no idea what the other person is thinking. hell, if i was a president i'd probably start world war three WITHOUT intention! simply by saying the wrong things and being misunderstood.
how can you be in politics without remembering faces? you might mistake the president of an alley country for the cleaning man.
what about a faraway look in the eyes? bill gates has it, and alber einstien had that quirky aspie look. hitler didnt. only a dark, icy look, like a predator before an attack. take one look and get a heart attack.
an aspie look is not a blood chilling look. it's a gentle, dreamy look.
20 Aug 2012, 5:45 am
Al Gore may have aspergers, so it is possible that Hitler had it too, but it is more likely that he was just a psychopath.
Many disorders have been given to Hitler: bipolar personality disorder, paranoid, repressed homosexual, schizoid personality disorder. In the end,
there's no way to know for sure because he is dead, and psychiatrists never spoke to him, as far as I know. In fact, he had the works of Sigmund
Freud burned.
_________________
Your Aspie score: 163 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 50 of 200
20 Aug 2012, 7:04 am
i think this claim is pure nonsense. Hitler had NPD (narcissisic personality disorder). I am really annoyed by those who mix AS up with sociopathy/psychopathy/narcissistics.
What about writing some research paper against this nonsense? Who would join?
thanks,
anton
Hi Anton,
Some of us have been deeply, deeply hurt by people with the disorders that you mentioned and are trying to cling to any thread of a chance that they could have AS instead, which would lessen the blow greatly. My mother has NPD, I'm fairly certain that she is literally incapable of loving me, or any one for that matter. She once told me that she had to force herself to hug me. The psychological torment that this woman put me through makes me wonder how she made it this far in life without being locked in an institution. There ARE very many similar symptoms between AS and NPD, and I can understand why someone would find themselves not completely convinced that they are not related in some way. If was able to determine that my mother has AS instead of NPD, that would mean that my perceptions of her abuse were likely wrong, and that she was more likely just oblivious instead of an emotional vampire, setting me up for failure just to enjoy watching me fall. Unfortunately, I've concluded over and over again that there is no way that she could possibly have AS...but I would hardly call my confusion (and hoping) "nonsense".
20 Aug 2012, 7:05 am
Hitler wasn't born "evil". He was as much the product of his environment as he was the product of his own nature. Of course a persons nature can be deeply affected by those around them and Hitler had a very troubled youth. Also, religious zealotry was a significant factor. This is why I so deeply oppose organized religion. An NT leaders power increases with every other NT under their command. Also it doesn't matter what the purpose of the organization is, NT's will cultivate power for the sake of power regardless of any moral, ethical, or environmental deterrents. They will also abuse it just as readily too.
The real question is should we be bothered if he was? No we shouldn't. Denial isn't in an aspie's nature from what I can tell but, it is in the nature of NT's. If knowledge is power then Truth is the purest form of it. Ignoring the truth for the sake of vanity is an NT trait. The fact is, Hitler was a genius whose delusional beliefs led him down the path of tyranny. Same goes for most world conquerors, but our current educational institutions like to emphasize Hitler and the holocaust for whatever reason.
So, my point is, that if Hitler was an aspie, he wasn't born with a desire to commit genocide and thus it would be amiss to regard all aspies through the lens of Hitler, not to mention the fact we'll never know for sure if he was. Remember though, nobody hates naturally, it was instilled in him during his life and only when it was married with unfettered power and mass NT obedience was he able to become the tyrant we know today. It was a perfect storm of chance and circumstance but Hitler was as much a human as anyone else and anyone who thinks he was some kinda of antichrist or demon is deluded.
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