Is it likely that Adolf Hitler had Asperger's?

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a lot of people seem to think so. what do you guys think?

No. I'm pretty sure he was an extremely manipulative person.

A lot of people seem to think so ?. NO hitler was very likely NOT an aspie. Just look up some about him and his charisma that got millions of people to follow him. This does not sound very aspie like. Sure autistics can have great leadership qualities, but not when it comes to level of charisma, body language/voice that hitler had.

I could be wrong here but hitler was not the leader that people followed because of what he had to say but how he said it.

Hitler may have had a lot of coaching. No doubt his was a deliberate, engineered effort that required the help of a lot of NTs in his group. In some of the old videos where he's not playing to a crowd he seems mechanical and maybe a bit clumsy. His mannerisms even seem comical when you compare him to C-3PO (the golden humanoid robot from Star Wars). Some of his odd hand movements might actually be stims, made into political trademarks. In any other context these would have been counted against him. As far as voice, wasn't he always shouting?

hello,

I read abit about "narcissistic personality disorder", and how it works. I read there also that many dictators e.g. gaddafi, nero, and probably also hitler had NPD, and it sounds very reasonable to me.

There are some superficial similarities between asperger and NPD, but they are really just superficial. Nevertheless, people who are not really familiar with both, can mix it.

For example, both are called to have "lack of empathy". However, as AS people just lack body language skills, and therefore may do some unfriendly things, while NPD people have really no conscience and really don't care about others, want all attention for them and manipulate alot. On the contrary, AS people are very bad in manipulating, even more bad than "normal" people, usually they seek for "truth" and e.g. they even don't suit well and care alot for their appearance, in order to impress others and so on, which i think is also some sort of manipulation.

bye,
anton

Or it could be both. He could have lacked both empathy and sympathy. NPD doesn't explain some of his other features like the hand movements and obsessiveness and perseveration about his own ideas. Being successful, at least until everybody died, doesn't rule out being on the autism spectrum. Also, the fact that he really was a horrible man, doesn't mean that he couldn't have had a condition that you also have.

Hitler was a slacker. Lots of potential but no drive. Then one day he woke up and almost conquered the world committing wholesale slaughter along the way. It would have been better if he'd stayed asleep. There's no reason he couldn't have touched the spectrum, introversion can lead to narcissism and seeming extroversion even for aspies. An aspie can learn to manipulate, not so much the subtle emotional manipulation you see in interpersonal relations but more the wholesale bludgeoning manipulation you see from high pressure salesmen appealing to basic human nature.

I kind of wonder when I'm going to wake up, but then again maybe it's better if I don't. Not that I'm anything like Hitler mind you!

I'm going with sociopath. Most Aspies are not great as getting millions of people to follow them and support them, and while Aspies do lack empathy, they at least have compassion which seperates them from sociopaths and psychopaths. Hitler obviously had no compassion and was a skilled manipulator. Even if he was a bit awkard and obsessive that does not automatically label him as an Aspie given the traits he has that Aspies don't have.

This is one of the reasons I consider myself a bit of an Anarchist and I'm strongly against government. Governments are supposed to be there to help their country and their people, but when you have monsters like Hitler who get into power it causes great suffering for a lot of people in the world who get mixed up in the uneccesary wars that these tyrants create. Not all humans are evil, but every human can be easily manipulated which is why it's dangerous to allow a government to get too powerful.

Two points:

* Why does this belong in the Entertainment section??

* Personally I think Hitler was a psychopath, not aspie.

Locked for posting in the wrong forum.