Psychiatric research and science policy in Germany. The history of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Psychiatrie (German Institute for Psychiatric Research) in Munich from 1917 to 1945

The name Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Psychiatrie (DFA, German Institute for Psychiatric Research), which even today is part of the official name of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Psychiatrie (Max Planck Institute of Psychiatr y), makes reference to the origins of a scientific institution whose histor y can serve probably better than that of any other institution to illustrat e the paths taken by modern psychiatry in Germany. In what follows it is sh own that, in retrospect, traditional ideas often continued to be in use wit h surprising continuity during the eventful decades of the first half of th e twentieth century. Beyond this, the history of the DFA reflects not only developments within psychiatry as a scientific discipline but also the inte ractions of psychiatry with what was taking place generally and politically during the period under discussion.