East Germans who experienced repression during the GDR show higher distress and systemic inflammation, study finds

A study involving citizens of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany or GDR) found that those who experienced state-organized soft repression scored higher on psychological distress indicators. They also tended to have higher interleukin-6 levels, indicating increased systemic inflammation. The paper was published in The British Journal of Psychiatry.

Political repression can affect health not only through overt violence, imprisonment, or torture, but also through quieter forms of control that interfere with everyday life. So-called soft repression can include surveillance, denunciation, restrictions on speech, harassment, and deliberate obstacles in a person’s professional or social life. These practices may create chronic feelings of insecurity, mistrust, uncertainty, and the need to constantly monitor one’s own behavior.

In the former German Democratic Republic, such methods were used against people and groups regarded as politically troublesome, including artists, church groups, youth subcultures, and people seeking to emigrate. Although these experiences do not necessarily meet conventional definitions of psychological trauma, they can still function as powerful and prolonged sources of psychosocial stress. Long-term stress of this kind has been linked to anxiety, depression, disruption of stress-regulation systems, and changes in immune functioning.

The German Democratic Republic was the socialist state that existed from 1949 until German reunification in 1990. It was closely aligned with the Soviet Union and governed by an authoritarian one-party system led by the Socialist Unity Party.

Study author Ruth Marheinecke and her colleagues examined the long-term psychobiological consequences of soft repression. They hypothesized that individuals who experienced soft repression in the GDR would show elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and trauma-related symptoms. They also expected that these individuals would have elevated levels of interleukin-6 and hs-CRP as well as shorter telomere length, indicating accelerated biological aging.

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Interleukin-6 is a molecule involved in immune signaling and inflammation. Higher blood levels indicate increased inflammatory activity. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein or hs-CRP is a blood marker that detects low levels of systemic inflammation. It is commonly used to assess inflammatory and cardiovascular risk. Telomeres are repetitive DNA-protein structures located at the ends of chromosomes inside cells that help protect chromosome ends from damage and fusion. They are used as an indicator of biological aging, with shorter telomeres indicating greater cellular stress and higher biological age.

Participants of this study were 100 former GDR citizens between 50 and 78 years of age, mainly from Thuringia and Saxony in modern Germany. Study authors recruited them using flyers, local newspaper ads, and support from local organizations such as church communities.

They were organized into two groups. One group consisted of 49 participants who experienced at least two state-organized soft repression techniques in the GDR, including planned surveillance, summoning to interrogations, denunciation, or school and workplace harassment. The other group was composed of 51 individuals who lived in the GDR but reported no personal repression experiences. The two groups were matched for age, gender, and GDR origin.

Study participants completed assessments of depression (the Beck Depression Inventory-II), anxiety (the trait subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), and psychological trauma symptoms (the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire). They also completed assessments of perceived social support and resilience. Aside from this, study participants gave blood samples, allowing study authors to assess their interleukin-6 levels, hs-CRP levels, and telomere length.

The results showed that participants who were exposed to soft repression during the GDR had higher levels of depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms on average. They also reported lower resilience compared to the control group and tended to have higher levels of interleukin-6. There were no differences between the two groups in hs-CRP levels and telomere length. However, in the repression group, lower social support was associated with shorter telomeres.

“This study is the first to explore the psychobiological health consequences of soft political repression. Findings emphasize its long-term consequences on the psyche and immune system and highlight the potential role of social support in mitigating cellular aging. As authoritarian tactics are becoming more prevalent worldwide, understanding the impact of soft repression on health is essential for supporting affected individuals,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the psychobiological consequences of state repression. However, it should be noted that the study did not have a pretest, and this was not an experimental study. Therefore, it remains unknown whether the observed differences are a consequence of the repression participants endured during the GDR or are caused by other factors. Furthermore, because individuals with acute psychopathology were excluded from participating, the sample may reflect particularly resilient individuals, meaning the actual impact of soft repression could be even more pronounced.

The paper, “Long-term consequences of soft political repression on psychological well-being, systemic inflammation and cellular ageing,” was authored by Ruth Marheinecke, Jost Blasberg, Jue Lin, Nils Opel, Carsten Spitzer, Bernhard Strauss, Elissa Epel, and Veronika Engert.