mental illness blinded hitler, Chemicals that show the mind's mechanics

Study: Mental illness, not gas attack, blinded Hitler PTI | Oct 24, 2011, 06.14AM IST LONDON: It was one of the most notorious stories that Germany's Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler used to say - his First World War experience ended when he was blinded by a British mustard gas attack. Now, a new research has exposed Hitler's account of his own gallantry as a sham, and revealed that his temporary loss of sight was caused by a mental disorder known as "hysterical blindness" and not the mustard gas attack he alleged. Hitler had claimed numerous times, including in his autobiography 'Mein Kampf', that the British attacked in October 1918 south of Ypres using a "yellow gas unknown to us". By morning, his eyes "were like glowing coals, and all was darkness around me" , he wrote. But, historian Thomas Weber of University of Aberdeen, says he has uncovered unpublished letters between two American neurologists from 1943, which debunk Hitler's claim. The correspondence showed that Otfried Foerster , a renowned German neurosurgeon, had inspected Hitler's medical file, and found that he was treated for hysterical amblyopia, a psychiatric disorder that can make sufferers lose sight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chemicals that show the mind's mechanics Updated: 2011-10-23 08:02

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