title: [Psychiatry in East Germany (GDR) Between Awakening and Stagnation: The Brandenburg Proposition to the "Therapeutic Community" (1974/76)].
abstract: Inspired by the concept of the English psychiatrist Maxwell Jones, the Brandenburg proposition or thesis towards the "Therapeutic Community" was formulated in 1974. Its objective was to transform the therapeutic environment in psychiatric hospitals of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Based on sources from the Federal Archive in Berlin and for the first time from the Historical Archive of the Asklepios Hospital in Brandenburg, the motivation, implementation and effect of the so-called Brandenburg proposition will be analysed within its socio-political context. Although it was not able to exert a broader influence on the provision of psychiatric care, important impulses for the development of social psychiatry and psychotherapy in the GDR were nonetheless given. The discussions on the concept of "therapeutic community" illustrated that this concept was supposed to coincide with the socio-political objectives of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and their principles of collective education.
authors.affiliation: AG Philosophie und Geschichte der Psychiatrie, Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universitätsmedizin Rostock.
authors.forename: Ekkehardt
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kumbier
authors.affiliation: AG Philosophie und Geschichte der Psychiatrie, Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universitätsmedizin Rostock.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Haack
mesh_terms: D005859:Germany, East; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history*; D013808:Therapeutic Community