Perspectives on patients' history: methodological considerations on the example of recent German-speaking literature

Patient-history is a recently developed branch of medical-historical search, and its methodology has not yet been sufficiently developed. In particular, the specific character of patient-centered research still has not received sufficient attention. What kinds of questions can, and should, such research attempt to answer, and from which perspectives? This contribution to the discussion offers some help towards the development of ways of orienting such research towards achieving proximity to the patients' viewpoint. This aim is best achieved when the mental picture of patients is reconstructed and, in addition, the specific point of view of the patient is adopted. The article illustrates some possibilities and problems of this branch of research by citing the example of relevant recent German-language studies, especially in the field of the relationship of patients to approved doctors in the nineteenth century.