[Social Psychiatric Conceptions in Western and Eastern Germany - a Contrastive Analysis of the Approaches Developed by Karl Peter Kisker, Klaus Weise and Achim Thom].

Abstract

The study explores the common effort of social psychiatrists in Eastern and Western Germany to help people suffering from mental health issues to gain more self-determination and social participation and to make mental health care more humane from the 1960s onwards. At the same time, it provides a contrastive analysis of the social psychiatric concepts developed by the psychiatrists Karl Peter Kisker, Klaus Weise and the philosopher Achim Thom. A thorough analysis of literature reveals differences in the theoretical approaches in the East and West. Kisker, who was a representative of the West German social psychiatric movement, had a phenomenological-anthropological background. By contrast, Weise and Thom even though following the same subject orientation, established a socialist social psychiatry clearly integrating Marxist views into their concept. This contrastive also elaborates common viewpoints in understanding the social dimensions of mental health conditions in the two concepts.