Good shrink could have tamed Stalin, saved millions: researc

LONDON (AFP) - Soviet dictator Stalin was a madman who could have benefited from a psychiatrist's attention and millions of lives could have been saved, a British researcher claimed.

Stalin, who ruled Russia from 1924 until his death in 1953, suffered from dementia caused by heart attacks, according to Dr George El-Nimr.

"This (Stalin's dementia) might be an explanation for the florid paranoia, dimming of his superior intellect and the unleashing of his most sadistic personality traits," Nimr told the annual conference of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Harrogate in northern England.

Nimr and two colleagues, Dr Baseem Habeeb and Dr Emad Sulib, discussed the consequences of madness on the behaviour of several 20th century political leaders.

They argued that undiagnosed dementia could affect the fate of nations, even the world.

Millions are estimated to have died as the result of Stalin's policies and in purges

sheesh what would they say about old adolf