This list is of notable psychiatrists.
Additional lists of psychiatrists can be found at the articles Fictional psychiatrists and List of physicians.
Medical doctors who are psychiatrists and included in those lists and are also listed below. Some psychiatrists are also in the list of neurologists and the list of neuroscientists.
Name | Nationality | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Nise da Silveira | 1905-1999 | Brazilian | psychiatrist and a student of Carl Jung. She devoted her life to psychiatry and has never been in agreement with the aggressive forms of treatment of her time such as commitment to psychiatric hospitals |
Alfred Adler | 1870–1937 | Austrian | Individual psychology |
Jill Afrin | 1962– | American | Telepsychiatrist for deaf people |
Leo Alexander | 1905–1985 | Austrian–American | Author |
Alois Alzheimer | 1864–1915 | German | Alzheimer's disease |
Daniel Amen | 1954– | American | Psychiatrist and brain-disorder specialist |
Nancy C. Andreasen | 1938– | American | 2000 National Medal of Science recipient, professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa College of Medicine |
Giorgio Antonucci | 1933–2017 | Italian | Critic of the basis of psychiatry |
David Ames | 1984 | Australian | 2018 Order of Australia recipient for research in dementia and the mental health of older persons |
Susan Bailey | 1950– | British | President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists |
Jack Barchas | 1935– | American | Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College |
Franco Basaglia | 1924–1980 | Italian | Mental health reformer |
William Battie | 1703–1776 | British | Published in 1758 a book on the treatment of mental illness |
Peter Baumann | 1935–2011 | Swiss | Advocate for psycholytic therapy and euthanasia |
Aaron T. Beck | 1921–2021 | American | Father of cognitive therapy |
Stephen Joseph Bergman, aka Samuel Shem | 1944– | US | Author |
Vladimir Bekhterev | 1857–1927 | Russian | Best known for noting the role of the hippocampus in memory, his study of reflexes, and Bekhterev's disease |
Eugen Bleuler | 1857–1940 | Swiss | Coined terms "Autism" and "schizophrenia" |
Manfred Bleuler | 1903–1994 | Swiss | Son of Eugen Bleuler, research on the course of chronic schizophrenia |
William Breitbart | 1951– | American | Chief of Psychiatry Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center |
John Charles Bucknill | 1817–1897 | British | mental health reformer |
Aggrey Burke | 1943– | British | transcultural psychiatry |
Donald Ewen Cameron | 1901–1967 | Scottish | "Depatterning" and "psychic driving" CIA funded experiments, head of APA and WPA |
John Cade | 1912–1980 | Australian | Lithium therapy research |
Fiona Caldicott | 1941– | British | |
Mary Cannon | 1965– | Irish | Psychiatrist and research scientist |
Patricia Casey | Irish | Professor of Psychiatry at University College Dublin | |
Daniel Harold Casriel | 1924–1983 | American | Creator of 'The New Identity Process' (now called Bonding Psychotherapy) |
Ferdinando Cazzamalli | 1887–1958 | Italian | Interested in paranormal and metaphysics |
Anthony Clare | 1942–2007 | Irish | Academic, interviewer on radio and TV |
John Gordon Clark | 1926–1999 | American | 1991 psychiatrist of the year, Psychiatric Times |
Ugo Cerletti | 1877–1963 | Italian | Neurologist, specialised in neuropsychiatry and electroconvulsive therapy |
Eustace Chesser | 1902–1973 | Scottish | |
John Conolly | 1794–1866 | British | He published the volume Indications of Insanity in 1830 |
Arnold Cooper | 1923–2011 | American | Psychoanalyst theorist, former Tobin-Cooper professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and president of the American Psychoanalytic Association |
Michel Craplet | French | alcoholism specialist | |
James Crichton-Browne | 1840–1938 | British | A pioneer of British psychiatric public health |
John Cutting | 1952– | British | also writer, specialising in schizophrenia |
Eric Cunningham Dax | 1908–2008 | British | Specialised in shock therapy and lobotomy |
Christine Dean | 1939– | British | British community, alternatives to psychiatric hospital treatment and human rights of people with mental health problems |
Honorio Delgado | 1892 - 1969 | Peruvian | Pioneered biological innovations in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, as well as the founder and first rector of Cayetano Heredia University. |
Karl Deisseroth | 1971– | American | Neuroscientist. Known for the technologies of CLARITY and optogenetics |
John Langdon Down | 1828–1896 | British | Known for his description of Down syndrome and as a pioneer in the care of mentally disabled patients |
Mason Durie | 1938– | New Zealander | |
Leon Eisenberg | 1922–2009 | American | Medical educator, first RCT in clinical child psychopharmacology, protégé of Leo Kanner, author of early articles about autism and neurodevelopmental disorders |
Milton H. Erickson | 1901–1980 | American | Founding president, American Society for Clinical Hypnosis |
Gail Eskes | 1955- | Canadian-American | academic psychiatrist |
José María Esquerdo | 1842–1912 | Spanish | Spanish psychiatrist, physician, and Republican politician |
Wayne Fenton | 1953–2006 | US | National Institute of Mental Health, ex-Chestnut Lodge |
Eleanora Fleury | 1860–1940 | Irish | First female member of the Medico Psychological Association (now the Royal College of Psychiatrists) |
Viktor Frankl | 1905–1997 | Austrian | Neurologist, psychiatrist, psychologist, founder of logotherapy (The Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy) |
Daniel X. Freedman | 1921–1993 | American | Pioneer in biological psychiatry |
Walter Freeman | 1895–1972 | American | Proponent of Lobotomy |
Sigmund Freud | 1856–1939 | Austrian | Neurologist, "the father of psychoanalysis" |
Jacob H. Friedman | 1905–1973 | American | Pioneer in geriatric psychiatry |
Karl J. Friston | 1959– | British | Neuroscientist and authority on quantitative brain imaging |
Pyotr Borisovich Gannushkin | 1875–1933 | Russian | Author, Manifestations of Psychopathies and Notes on the Psychiatric Clinic on Devichye Pole |
Lars Christopher Gillberg | 1950– | Swedish | Researched on ADHD and autism |
William Glasser | 1925–2013 | American | Reality Therapy and Choice Theory |
Ira Glick | American | Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford Medical School | |
Semyon Gluzman | 1946– | Soviet and Ukrainian | whistle blower on political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union |
Richard Green | 1938–2019 | American | Influential work done in studying gender identity |
Mikhail Gurevich | 1878–1953 | Russian | Pioneer of Soviet child psychiatry |
Samuel Guze | 1923–2000 | American | Medical educator, and researcher |
Robert Galbraith Heath | 1915–1999 | American | Also neurologist |
Edward M. Hallowell | 1949- | American | Author of notable works on ADHD |
Karen Horney | 1885–1952 | German | neo-Freudian |
Henry Mills Hurd | 1843–1927 | American | The first director of the Johns Hopkins Hospital |
Richard Isay | 1934–2012 | American | Psychoanalyst |
Junichiro Ito | 1954– | Japanese | Director of the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, National Institute of Mental Health, Japan |
Iliyan Ivanov | 1963– | American Bulgarian | Professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York. |
Karl Jaspers | 1883–1969 | German | Existential philosopher and psychopathologist |
Eve Johnstone | 1944– | British | Head of Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh |
Ayana Jordan | American | Addiction psychiatrist | |
Carl Jung | 1875–1961 | Swiss | founder of analytical psychology |
Karla Jurvetson | 1965– | US | |
Eric Richard Kandel | 1929– | American | 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
Victor Khrisanfovich Kandinsky | 1849–1889 | Russian | introduced the notion of pseudohallucinations and described the syndrome now known as Kandinsky-Clérambault syndrome |
Boris Dmitrievich Karvasarsky | 1929–2013 | Russian | Author, Neuroses: Textbook for Doctors and Personality-Oriented Psychotherapy |
Robert Evan Kendell | 1935–2002 | British | nosology |
Otto Kernberg | 1928– | Austrian | psychoanalytic theoretician and clinician |
Seymour S. Kety | 1915–2000 | American | psychiatric genetics |
Sergei Sergeievich Korsakoff | 1854–1900 | Russian | Studied alcoholic psychosis, introduced the concept of paranoia and wrote a comprehensive textbook on psychiatry |
Anatoly Koryagin | 1938– | Russian | Whistle blower on punitive psychiatry in the Soviet Union |
Emil Kraepelin | 1856–1926 | German | founder of modern scientific psychiatry |
Charles Krauthammer | 1950–2018 | American | Pulitzer-winning columnist, known for political commentary |
Ernst Kretschmer | 1888–1964 | German | researched the human constitution and established a typology |
David Kupfer | 1941– | American | University of Pittsburgh, current head of DSM-5 |
Arnold Kutzinski | 1879–1956 | German | Psychiatrist and neurologist, outspoken critic of psychoanalysis |
Ronald David Laing | 1927–1989 | Scottish | Psychiatrist and antipsychiatrist |
Karl Leonhard | 1904–1988 | German | Described cycloid psychoses |
Saul V. Levine | 1938– | Canadian | author, Radical Departures: Desperate Detours to Growing Up |
Aubrey Lewis | 1900–1975 | Australian | Clinical Director of the Maudsley Hospital, pivoltal influence on British psychiatry |
Andrey Yevgenyevich Lichko | 1926–1996 | Russian | vice principal of Saint-Petersburg Psychoneurological Institute n.a. V.M. Bekhterev, author, Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychopathy and Accentuations of Character at Teenagers, and Schizophrenia in Teenagers. |
Robert Jay Lifton | 1926– | American | author, Thought Reform |
Manuel Isaías López | 1941–2017 | Mexican | bioethics |
Abraham Low | 1891–1954 | American | founder of Recovery International (formerly Recovery, Inc.) |
Herman Wedel Major | 1814–1854 | Norwegian | Father of Norwegian psychiatry |
Henry Maudsley | 1835–1918 | British | A pioneer of British psychiatry |
Thomas McGlashan | 1942– | US | Professor of Psychiatry at Yale Medical School |
Peter McGuffin | 1949– | British | psychiatric genetics |
Friedrich Meggendorfer | 1880–1953 | German | also neurologist, early describer of familial Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. |
Adolf Meyer | 1866–1950 | Swiss | "Common Sense" psychiatry |
Theodor Meynert | 1833–1892 | German-Austrian | Founder of cerebral cortex cytoarchitectonics |
Robert Michels | 1876-1936 | American | University Professor and former Dean, Weill Cornell Medical College |
Patrick McGorry | 1952– | Australian | developed early psychosis model |
John Monro | 1716–1791 | British | Was the first of the Monro family of physicians dedicated to insanity |
Robin Murray | 1944– | British | psychosis |
Conolly Norman | 1886–1908 | Irish | R.M.S. of the Richmond District Lunatic Asylum, Dublin, Ireland |
Ahmed Okasha | 1935– | Egyptian | President of World Psychiatric Association from 2002 to 2005 |
Humphry Osmond | 1917–2004 | British | known for inventing the term 'psychedelic' |
Joy Osofsky | American | Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry at Louisiana State University School of Medicine | |
Ian Oswald | 1929–2012 | British | sleep research |
Stanley Palombo | American | psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, author | |
Herb Pardes | 1932– | American | psychiatry chair and dean at Columbia University, and president, New York Presbyterian Hospital |
Gordon Parker | Australian | mood disorders, in particular melancholia. | |
Diana Perkins | American | Schizophrenia researcher. | |
Nossrat Peseschkian | 1933–2010 | Iranian-German | psychiatrist, neurologist, psychotherapist, founder of Positive Psychotherapy |
Issy Pilowsky | 1935–2012 | Australian | abnormal illness behaviour |
Philippe Pinel | 1745–1826 | French | Unchained hospital patients |
M. Scott Peck | 1936–2005 | American | love and spiritual growth |
Desmond Arthur Pond | 1919–1986 | British | Chief Scientist at Department of Health and Social Security |
Antoine Porot | 1876-1965 | French | Algiers School of psychiatry |
James B. Potash | American | Psychiatrist, researcher, and academic leader | |
Mark Ragins | American | American psychiatrist in the recovery movement, founding member of the Village ISA. | |
John Rawlings Rees | 1890–1969 | British | military psychiatry and mind control |
W. H. R. Rivers | 1864–1922 | British | psychiatric anthropology |
Hermann Rorschach | 1884–1922 | Swiss | also psychoanalyst, Rorschach inkblot test |
Benjamin Rush | 1746–1813 | American | Father of American psychiatry |
Gerald Russell | 1928–2018 | British | |
Michael Rutter | 1933–2021 | British | Child psychiatry |
Manfred Sakel | 1900–1957 | Austrian | inventor of insulin shock therapy |
William Sargant | 1907–1988 | British | Physical methods of treatment |
Alan Schatzberg | American | Researches the biology and treatment of depression | |
Daniel Schechter | 1962– | American | Researches effects of maternal post-traumatic stress on the mother-child relationship |
Kurt Schneider | 1887–1967 | German | schizophrenia research |
Vladimir Petrovich Serbsky | 1858–1917 | Russian | author, The Forensic Psychopathology |
Martin Seligman | 1942– | US | Learned helplessness |
David Shaffer | 1936– | South African | child and adolescent psychiatrist, suicide researcher, epidemiologist |
Michael Sharpe | British | psychiatric aspects of medical illness | |
Michael Shepherd | 1923–1995 | British | Epidemiological Psychiatry |
Volkmar Sigusch | 1940– | German | also psychologist |
Eliot Slater | 1904–1983 | British | Debunked "hysteria" |
Victor Skumin | 1948– | Russian | Skumin syndrome, also psychologist |
Andrei Vladimirovich Snezhnevsky | 1904–1987 | Russian | introduced the term of sluggishly progressing schizophrenia |
Solomon Halbert Snyder | 1938– | American | neurotransmitters |
Robert Spitzer | 1932–2015 | American | chair, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–III), 1980 |
Hans Steiner | 1946– | Austrian | leading advocate of the developmental psychopathology and psychiatry |
Daniel Stern | 1934–2012 | American | leading infant observation and parenting researcher, theorist, author |
Tina Strobos | 1920–2012 | Dutch | Family psychiatrist, awarded Elizabeth Blackwell Medal, known for her work rescuing over 100 Jewish refugees during World War II |
Kerry Sulkowicz | 1958– | American | psychology of corporate management |
Cedric Howell Swanton | 1899–1970 | Australian | electroconvulsive therapy |
Thomas Szasz | 1920–2012 | American | critic of conventional psychiatry |
Susan Shur-Fen Gau | 1962– | Taiwanese | Child and adolescent psychiatry |
Jared Tinklenberg | 1939–2020 | American | Alzheimer's disease |
Giulio Tononi | 1960– | Italian | Sleep research, integrated information theory, consciousness |
Daniel Hack Tuke | 1827–1895 | British | descended from the Tuke family of the York Retreat, co-author with John Charles Bucknill of the Manual of Psychological Medicine, editor of the Dictionary of Psychological Medicine, editor of the Journal of Mental Science. |
E. Fuller Torrey | 1937– | American | schizophrenia |
Gordon Turnbull | Scottish | posttraumatic stress disorder | |
Vamık Volkan | 1932– | Turkish-Cypriot | political psychiatry |
Estela V. Welldon | Argentine | British Forensic Psychotherapist; founder, International Association of Forensic Psychotherapy | |
Simon Wessely | 1956– | British | epidemiology, general hospital and combat psychiatry |
Louis Jolyon West | 1924–1999 | American | Civil rights activist |
Donald Winnicott | 1896–1971 | British | child psychiatry and psychoanalysis |
Peter C. Whybrow | British | also researcher in bio-behavioral sciences. | |
Sula Wolff | 1924–2009 | British | stress in children, schizoid personality/autism |
Irvin D. Yalom | 1931– | American | researcher into group psychotherapy and existential psychotherapy at Stanford University |
Charles H. Zeanah | 1951– | American | Leading infant psychiatrist, attachment researcher, author |
Larry J. Siever | 1947-2021 | American | Leading psychiatrist in the study of personality disorders |
Neurology is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the spinal cord and the peripheral nerves. Neurological practice relies heavily on the field of neuroscience, the scientific study of the nervous system.
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly mental issues. Sometimes a psychiatrist works within a multi-disciplinary team, which may comprise clinical psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, and nursing staff. Psychiatrists have broad training in a biopsychosocial approach to the assessment and management of mental illness.
Anti-psychiatry, sometimes spelled antipsychiatry, is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment can be often more damaging than helpful to patients. The term anti-psychiatry was coined in 1912, and the movement emerged in the 1960s, highlighting controversies about psychiatry. Objections include the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, the questionable effectiveness and harm associated with psychiatric medications, the failure of psychiatry to demonstrate any disease treatment mechanism for psychiatric medication effects, and legal concerns about equal human rights and civil freedom being nullified by the presence of diagnosis. Historical critiques of psychiatry came to light after focus on the extreme harms associated with electroconvulsive therapy and insulin shock therapy. The term "anti-psychiatry" is in dispute and often used to dismiss all critics of psychiatry, many of whom agree that a specialized role of helper for people in emotional distress may at times be appropriate, and allow for individual choice around treatment decisions.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 38,000 members who are involved in psychiatric practice, research, and academia representing a diverse population of patients in more than 100 countries. The association publishes various journals and pamphlets, as well as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM codifies psychiatric conditions and is used mostly in the United States as a guide for diagnosing mental disorders.
Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychiatry in which scientific and clinical expertise is applied in legal contexts involving civil, criminal, correctional, regulatory, or legislative matters, and in specialized clinical consultations in areas such as risk assessment or employment." A forensic psychiatrist provides services – such as determination of competency to stand trial – to a court of law to facilitate the adjudicative process and provide treatment, such as medications and psychotherapy, to criminals.
The Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists is a member College of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. It oversees the provision of specialist training and continuing medical education in psychiatry in Hong Kong.
The Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research was founded in 1945. It is part of the Department of Psychiatry of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Liaison psychiatry, also known as consultative psychiatry or consultation-liaison psychiatry, is the branch of psychiatry that specialises in the interface between general medicine/pediatrics and psychiatry, usually taking place in a hospital or medical setting. The role of the consultation-liaison psychiatrist is to see patients with comorbid medical conditions at the request of the treating medical or surgical consultant or team. Consultation-liaison psychiatry has areas of overlap with other disciplines including psychosomatic medicine, health psychology and neuropsychiatry.
In 1966, the psychiatrist Charles K. Hofling conducted a field experiment on obedience in the nurse-physician relationship. In the natural hospital setting, nurses were ordered by unknown doctors to administer what could have been a dangerous dose of a (fictional) drug to their patients. In spite of official guidelines forbidding administration in such circumstances, Hofling found that 21 out of the 22 nurses would have given the patient an overdose of medicine.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental health problems. The college provides advice to those responsible for training and certifying psychiatrists in the UK.
Addiction medicine is a medical subspecialty that deals with the diagnosis, prevention, evaluation, treatment, and recovery of persons with addiction, of those with substance-related and addictive disorders, and of people who show unhealthy use of substances including alcohol, nicotine, prescription medicine and other illicit and licit drugs. The medical subspecialty often crosses over into other areas, since various aspects of addiction fall within the fields of public health, psychology, social work, mental health counseling, psychiatry, and internal medicine, among others. Incorporated within the specialty are the processes of detoxification, rehabilitation, harm reduction, abstinence-based treatment, individual and group therapies, oversight of halfway houses, treatment of withdrawal-related symptoms, acute intervention, and long term therapies designed to reduce likelihood of relapse. Some specialists, primarily those who also have expertise in family medicine or internal medicine, also provide treatment for disease states commonly associated with substance use, such as hepatitis and HIV infection.
Child and adolescent psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial factors that influence the development and course of psychiatric disorders and treatment responses to various interventions. Child and adolescent psychiatrists primarily use psychotherapy and/or medication to treat mental disorders in the pediatric population.
Geriatric psychiatry, also known as geropsychiatry, psychogeriatrics or psychiatry of old age, is a branch of medicine and a subspecialty of psychiatry dealing with the study, prevention, and treatment of neurodegenerative, cognitive impairment, and mental disorders in people of old age. Geriatric psychiatry as a subspecialty has significant overlap with the specialties of geriatric medicine, behavioural neurology, neuropsychiatry, neurology, and general psychiatry. Geriatric psychiatry has become an official subspecialty of psychiatry with a defined curriculum of study and core competencies.
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of deleterious mental conditions. These include various matters related to mood, behaviour, cognition, perceptions, and emotions.
Emanuel Tanay was a Polish-American physician, a forensic psychiatrist, and a Jewish Holocaust survivor.
Addiction psychiatry is a medical subspecialty within psychiatry that focuses on the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of people who have one or more disorders related to addiction. This may include disorders involving legal and illegal drugs, gambling, sex, food, and other impulse control disorders. Addiction psychiatrists are substance use disorder experts. Growing amounts of scientific knowledge, such as the health effects and treatments for substance use disorders, have led to advancements in the field of addiction psychiatry. These advancements in understanding the neurobiology of rewarding behavior, along with federal funding, has allowed for ample opportunity for research in the discipline of addiction psychiatry. Addiction psychiatry is an expanding field, and currently there is a high demand for substance use disorder experts in both the private and public sector.
The Goldwater rule is Section 7 in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Principles of Medical Ethics, which states that psychiatrists have a responsibility to participate in activities contributing to the improvement of the community and the betterment of public health, and when they are asked to comment on public figures, they refrain from diagnosing, which requires a personal examination and consent. It is named after former US Senator and 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to psychiatry:
The American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry (AOBNP) is an organization that provides board certification to qualified Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) and non-osteopathic physicians who specialize in disorders of the nervous system (neurologists) and to qualified Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine and physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders (psychiatrists).
Jeanne Marybeth Spurlock was an American psychiatrist, professor and author. She served as the deputy medical director of the American Psychiatric Association for seventeen years. She chaired the Department of Psychiatry at Meharry Medical College starting in 1968, and she taught at George Washington University and Howard University. She also operated her own private psychiatry practice, and she published several works.