500 years of reformation: The history of Martin Luther's pathography and its ethical implications

Abstract

Introduction

In the context of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, it is time to take a survey of the history of Martin Luther's (1483–1546) pathography.

Method

Relevant writings were evaluated.

Results

While in a 1035 page work written in German between 1937 and 1941, the Dane Paul Reiter retrospectively diagnosed Luther as manic-depressive, Kretschmer (1888–1964) in 1955 saw in Luther “a great polemic and organizer”. In 1956, Grossmann was unable to prove persistent synchronicity of depressive mood and reduced motivation in Luther in the key years 1527 and 1528, which led him to conclude that Luther had a cyclothymic personality with a pyknic constitution. In Roper's view in 2016, Luther suffered from “a condition […], that we would call depression today”.

Discussion

In 1948, Werner concluded that Reiter's pathography was based on an incorrect assumption: Luther's solution of the cloister conflict as a dilemma situation between paternal and clerical authority was not a flight into “the mysticism of despair”. Hamm adopted this interpretation in 2015 in viewing the escalation of the emotional conflict potential as a logical consequence of an interiorized and individualized intensified piety. In 2015, Scott saw a cyclothymic temperament in Luther starting in about 1519, but emphasized the elasticity of Luther's emotional reserves: “For the rest of his life, Luther oscillated between euphoria and dejection but not to the point of dysfunction”.

Conclusion

Luther can be used as an example of the importance of religiousness as a curative resource for the psyche.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.