Erich Lindemann (born 2 May 1900 in Witten, Germany) was a German-American writer and psychiatrist, specializing in bereavement. He worked at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston as the Chief of Psychiatry and is noted for his extensive study on the effects of traumatic events on survivors and families after the Cocoanut Grove night club fire in 1942. His contributions to the field of mental health led to the naming of a joint Harvard University–Commonwealth of Massachusetts-run mental health complex in Boston in his honor, the Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center. He died on November 16, 1974.
Lindemann was a graduate of the University hospital Gießen und Marburg and the Academy of Medicine in Düsseldorf, earning his doctorate in psychology in 1922 and his doctorate in medicine in 1927. In the same year he earned a fellowship to Harvard Medical School, and in 1929 made his move to the United States permanent. [1]
Author of "Symptomatology and Management of Acute Grief", a paper on posttraumatic stress disorder. It was published in September 1944.
Studied the survivors of the Cocoanut Grove fire (1942), which was the deadliest nightclub fire in United States history. [2]
Developed the field of Community Mental Health and Social Psychiatry. Created the first community mental health center in the United States: the Wellesley Human Relations Service.
The Cocoanut Grove fire was a nightclub fire which took place in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 28, 1942, and resulted in the deaths of 492 people. It is the deadliest nightclub fire in history and the second-deadliest single-building fire. The Cocoanut Grove was one of Boston's most popular nightspots, attracting many celebrity visitors. It was owned by Barnet "Barney" Welansky, who was closely connected to the Mafia and to Mayor Maurice J. Tobin. Fire regulations had been flouted: some exit doors had been locked to prevent unauthorized entry, and the elaborate palm tree décor contained flammable materials. The air-conditioning used flammable gas because of the wartime shortage of freon.
Alexandra Adler was an Austrian neurologist and the daughter of psychoanalyst Alfred Adler. She has been described as one of the "leading systematizers and interpreters" of Adlerian psychology. Her sister was Socialist activist Valentine Adler. Alexandra Adler's husband was Halfdan Gregersen.
Arthur Michael Kleinman is an American psychiatrist, social anthropologist and a professor of medical anthropology, psychiatry and global health and social medicine at Harvard University.
Bradford Cannon, the son of Dr. Walter Bradford Cannon, was a pioneer in the field of reconstructive surgery, specialising in burn victims. He was the first chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and is credited with saving the lives of thousands of soldiers maimed during World War II. As a young doctor, he used a new method he developed with Oliver Cope to treat survivors of the Cocoanut Grove fire in November, 1942.
Leon Eisenberg was an American child psychiatrist, social psychiatrist and medical educator who "transformed child psychiatry by advocating research into developmental problems".
Carola Blitzman Eisenberg was an Argentine-American psychiatrist who became the first woman to hold the position of dean of students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1978 to 1990, she was the dean of student affairs at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She has for a long time been lecturer in the newly renamed Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS. She was also both a founding member of Physicians for Human Rights and an honorary psychiatrist with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, a longstanding position there.
The Boston Government Service Center (BGSC) is a state government complex in the West End of Boston, Massachusetts. The center was designed in the Brutalist style, led by architect Paul Rudolph. It is one of the major components of the Government Center complex in Downtown Boston. The complex is made up of two connected Brutalist buildings: the Charles F. Hurley Building and the Erich Lindemann Building, as well as a courtyard; sometimes included is the newer, 1998-built, Edward W. Brooke Courthouse.
Henry David Abraham is an American physician. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts.
Elmer Ernest Southard was an American neuropsychiatrist, neuropathologist, professor and author. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Southard lived in the city for nearly his entire life. He attended Boston Latin School and completed his education at Harvard University. At Harvard, Southard distinguished himself as a chess player. After briefly studying in Germany, he returned to the United States as a pathologist at Danvers State Hospital. Southard held academic appointments at Harvard University and its medical school.
David Hurwitz was an American physician, professor of medicine, and researcher in the field of diabetes mellitus, considered "the father of the community hospital teaching concept".
Leston Laycock Havens was an American psychiatrist, psychotherapist and medical educator.
Harry C. Solomon (1889–1982), an American neurologist, psychiatrist, researcher, administrator, and clinician, was among the first to advocate for major changes in public psychiatry. He called for the closure of large, public mental hospitals and replaced with community-based facilities.
Daniel Blain, M.D. (1898–1981) was an American physician and was the first medical director of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the first professional medical society, founded in the United States in 1844. He may be credited with the leadership which brought changes in the practice of psychiatry after World War II and in advocating the treatment for people with mental disorders.
Walter Earl Barton, M.D. (1906–1999) was an American physician, a psychiatric administrator, and a leader in American psychiatry.
John Romano was an American physician, psychiatrist, and educator whose major interest was in medical education and the important relationship between psychiatry and medicine. He founded the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester and served as chairman from 1946 to 1971. He published over 200 scientific papers and served on several editorial boards including the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Judith L. Rapoport is an American psychiatrist. She is the chief of the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.
John Gunder Gunderson was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and a director at the Borderline center at McLean Hospital.
Lawrence Hartmann is a child and adult psychiatrist, social-psychiatric activist, and former President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Hartmann played a central role in the APA's 1973 decision to remove homosexuality as a diagnosis of mental illness from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. This change decisively changed the modern era of LGBTQ rights by providing support for the overturning of laws and prejudices against homosexuals and by advancing gay civil rights, including the right to immigrate, to adopt, to buy a home, to teach, to marry, and to be left alone.
Irene Jakab was a psychiatrist and humanist who was a member of the Harvard University School of Medicine faculty prior to designing and directing "the John Merck program for mentally retarded emotionally disturbed children at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC)" at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1974 to 1982.
Raquel Eidelman Cohen was a Peruvian-American child psychiatrist specialized in disaster management. She was a student in the first class including women to graduate from Harvard Medical School, in 1949. She went on to become an international authority on psychological and social consequences of disasters such as Hurricane Mitch in Central America, October 1998, and intervention methods for humanitarian workers, used in assisting survivors of the Mariel boatlift of 1980 and victims of the September 11 attacks.