[Theory and practice of Pavlov Sleep Therapy in the GDR].

The following study describes theoretical foundations and practical application of Pavlov Sleep Therapy within the GDR in the 1950s and earlier 1960s. Implementing the sleeping treatment as a psychiatric therapy examplifies how the ideological guideline to integrate Pavlov's teachings was converted into medical practice in the GDR. One of the protagonists of this approach was Dietfried Müller-Hegemann in Leipzig. Although being successful with some diseases such as fatigue, its practical application ceased after several cases of death that were brought in connection with the sleep treatment. Indirectly this discontinuation of Pavlov Sleep Therapy also terminated Müller-Hegemann's academic career. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.