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Adolf Hitler: a re-assessment of his personality status

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Desmond Henry ,
Dick Geary  and
Peter Tyrer
Desmond Henry
Affiliation:
Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham
Dick Geary
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham, Nottingham
Peter Tyrer
Affiliation:
(St. Mary's Hospital Medical School), St. Charles Hospital, London W10 6DZ, England
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Abstract

Objective: The assessment of the personality status of Adolf Hitler using a structured interview schedule, the Personality Assessment Schedule, with two informants, one a psychiatrist with an interest in psychohistory and the other a historian with special knowledge of the Third Reich and Weimar Republic. Method: The Personality Assessment Schedule was given in two forms to the two informants at different times; on each occasion Hitler was assessed as he was in 1937. Results: There was considerable discrepancy between the ratings of the two informants, the historian recording less-personality disturbance in all areas of function, although correlations between the two sets of ratings were relatively high (R1 0.5-0.6), with rater bias accounting for the differences in severity. Both informants regarded Hitler as having a dissocial personality disorder (using the new ICD-10 criteria), but the psychiatrist's rating also scored the diagnosis of paranoid and histrionic personality disorders. Conclusions: Interview schedules which use informants to assess personality disorder can be of value in examining the personality status of historical figures.

Keywords

Personality disorderDiagnosisHistoryInterview schedule
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , October 1993 , pp. 148 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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