Medical experts: Angela Merkel’s shakes may be psychosomatic

Experts offer new explanation for Angela Merkel’s shaking spells amid latest incident.

Angela Merkel has been seen shaking during recent public engagements. Picture: AP

British medical experts have backed Angela Merkel’s explanation of her shaking spells, saying they could well be psychological rather than physical.

Yesterday the German Chancellor tweaked diplomatic protocol so she could sit during the national anthem, after suffering her third attack of tremors in a month as the former head of the domestic intelligence service demanded an explanation for her health.

Yesterday, a source close to the German government said the shaking was psychological, with memories of the first incident provoking renewed trembling at events with similar settings.

Medical experts have since suggested that her symptoms did not resemble more localised tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease, and may indeed be psychosomatic. Peter Roberts, emeritus professor of pharmacology at the University of Bristol, said the official account of Mrs Merkel’s condition was plausible.

“[An] effect caused by dehydration followed by anxiety that it may occur again might be the cause,” he said. “The stress response is a basic survival mechanism — fight or flight — that kicks in as soon as a threat is perceived, including fear that something may happen, such as uncontrollable shaking.”

Hans-Georg Maassen, who stood down from the domestic spy agency in November, said the public ought to be told if their leader was in poor health. He was the first senior figure to break the taboo on discussing the chancellor’s physical condition amid speculation that she may have a long-term illness.

“The state of a political leader’s health is not a private matter,” Dr Maassen, 56, tweeted. “The people in Germany have a right to know whether their leader is still physically in a position to fulfil her office with all her strength.”

Over the past month Mrs Merkel, 64, trembled visibly while separately welcoming President Zelensky of Ukraine and Antti Rinne, the Finnish prime minister, to Berlin. She had another episode during the confirmation event for her new justice minister, Christine Lambrecht, last week. The spell lasted for more than two minutes.

Yesterday (Thursday), in a break with convention, she was seated on a dais as she received Mette Frederiksen, 41, the new Danish prime minister, with military honours in Berlin. After the ceremony Mrs Merkel said wryly that she was approaching her 65th birthday and “you don’t get any younger”. She added: “You may assume that I know the responsibility my office entails, and act accordingly as regards my health. I too as a human being have a personal interest in being healthy and looking after my health.”

The chancellor’s aides have put the three recent bouts of tremors down to dehydration and worry. She insisted this week that she was “fine” and “capable of performing” but conceded that she was still in a “phase of processing” the first of her attacks and that the problem might last some time.

“Clearly it is not over yet, but there has been progress and I must now live with it for a while,” she said. “But I’m faring very well and there is no cause to worry about me.”

The Times