Norman Gregory Hamilton (born October 4, 1945) is an American psychiatrist and author known for his contributions to the fields of psychotherapy and object relations theory and for his participation in the national and international debate over the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide.
Hamilton was born into a family of Oregon educators. After growing up in the Portland area, he attended Occidental College and completed his bachelor's degree in literature and writing at the University of Oregon. He earned his M.D. from Oregon Health and Science University in 1977. He completed psychiatry residency at the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry and served on the faculty there for two years before returning to Oregon Health and Science University, where he taught psychotherapy for more than a decade and became Associate Professor of Psychiatry. [1] In 1997 he co-founded Physicians for Compassionate Care, [2] an organization dedicated to promoting education about care for dying patients. He was active nationally [1] and internationally [3] in the debate about whether or not doctor-assisted suicide should be legalized.
He has published three books and numerous articles on psychotherapy. [4] [5] He has also authored articles about the medical ethical controversy surrounding doctor-assisted suicide. [6]
Awards include the Menninger Alumni Association Scientific Writing Award in 1980, the Linacre Award for Excellence in Medical Journalism in 2002, and Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association in 2003.
Hamilton's approach to object relations theory as described in Self and Others: Object Relations Theory in Practice, first published in 1988, was integrative. He originally described object relations theory as having an important place in psychiatry's biopsychosocial model but as not being a complete psychology for the broader field of psychiatry in that it lacked explanations of the effects of physical and cognitive factors on internal and external relationships. [4] In 1996, with the publication of The Self and the Ego in Psychotherapy, he added specific ego functions, including cognitions, and physical factors into the concept of object relations units in an attempt to make object relations theory sufficiently inclusive to serve as a general framework for psychiatry and clinical psychology. Along these lines, he published articles on combining object relations theory and pharmacotherapy [5] as well was object relations and end-of-life decisions. [6]
• Hamilton NG (1988). Self and Others: Object Relations Theory in Practice. Jason Aronson ISBN 978-0876685440 • Hamilton NG (1992). From Inner Sources: New Directions in Object Relations Psychotherapy. Jason Aronson ISBN 978-0876685402 • Hamilton NG (1996). The Self and the Ego in Psychotherapy. Jason Aronson ISBN 978-1568216591
• Hamilton NG (1989). A critical review of object relations theory. American Journal of Psychiatry 146(12):1552-1560 • Hamilton NG, Sacks LH, Hamilton CA (1994). Object relations theory and pharmacopsychotherapy of anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychotherapy 48(3):380-391 • Hamilton NG, Hamilton CA (2005). Competing paradigms of response to assisted suicide requests in Oregon. American Journal of Psychiatry 162(6):1060-1065
Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques used to study the unconscious mind, which together form a method of treatment for mental disorders. The discipline was established in the early 1890s by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, who retained the term psychoanalysis for his own school of thought. Freud's work stems partly from the clinical work of Josef Breuer and others. Psychoanalysis was later developed in different directions, mostly by students of Freud, such as Alfred Adler and his collaborator, Carl Gustav Jung, as well as by neo-Freudian thinkers, such as Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, and Harry Stack Sullivan.
Erotomania is listed in the DSM-5 as a subtype of a delusional disorder. It is a relatively uncommon paranoid condition that is characterized by an individual's delusions of another person being infatuated with them. This disorder is most often seen in female patients who are shy, dependent and sexually inexperienced. The object of the delusion is typically a male who is unattainable due to high social or financial status, marriage or disinterest. The object of obsession may also be imaginary, deceased or someone the patient has never met. Delusions of reference are common, as the erotomanic individual often perceives that they are being sent messages from the secret admirer through innocuous events such as seeing license plates from specific states, but has no research development proof. Commonly, the onset of erotomania is sudden, and the course is chronic.
Object relations theory in psychoanalytic psychology is the process of developing a psyche in relation to others in the childhood environment. It designates theories or aspects of theories that are concerned with the exploration of relationships between real and external people as well as internal images and the relations found in them. It maintains that the infant's relationship with the mother primarily determines the formation of its personality in adult life. Particularly, the need for attachment is the bedrock of the development of the self or the psychic organization that creates the sense of identity.
Otto Friedmann Kernberg is a psychoanalyst and professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is most widely known for his psychoanalytic theories on borderline personality organization and narcissistic pathology. In addition, his work has been central in integrating postwar ego psychology with Kleinian and other object relations perspectives. His integrative writings were central to the development of modern object relations, a theory of mind that is perhaps the theory most widely accepted among modern psychoanalysts.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy or psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension.
Suicide prevention is a collection of efforts to reduce the risk of suicide. These efforts may occur at the individual, relationship, community, and society level. Suicide is often preventable.
Relational psychoanalysis is a school of psychoanalysis in the United States that emphasizes the role of real and imagined relationships with others in mental disorder and psychotherapy. 'Relational psychoanalysis is a relatively new and evolving school of psychoanalytic thought considered by its founders to represent a "paradigm shift" in psychoanalysis'.
Murray Bowen was an American psychiatrist and a professor in psychiatry at Georgetown University. Bowen was among the pioneers of family therapy and a noted founder of systemic therapy. Beginning in the 1950s he developed a systems theory of the family.
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.
Suicidal ideation is thinking about, considering, or planning suicide. It is not a diagnosis, but is a symptom of some mental disorders and can also occur in response to adverse events without the presence of a mental disorder.
Louis August Gottschalk was an American psychiatrist and neuroscientist.
Roy Wright Menninger is an American medical doctor and psychiatrist. He served as president and CEO of the Menninger Foundation from 1967 to 1993.
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a brief, attachment-focused psychotherapy that centers on resolving interpersonal problems and symptomatic recovery. It is an empirically supported treatment (EST) that follows a highly structured and time-limited approach and is intended to be completed within 12–16 weeks. IPT is based on the principle that relationships and life events impact mood and that the reverse is also true. It was developed by Gerald Klerman and Myrna Weissman for major depression in the 1970s and has since been adapted for other mental disorders. IPT is an empirically validated intervention for depressive disorders, and is more effective when used in combination with psychiatric medications. Along with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), IPT is recommended in treatment guidelines as a psychosocial treatment of choice for depression.
The Austen Riggs Center is a psychiatric treatment facility in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It was founded by Austen Fox Riggs in 1913 as the Stockbridge Institute for the Study and Treatment of Psychoneuroses before being renamed in honor of Austen Riggs on July 21, 1919.
Peter Fonagy, is a Hungarian-born British psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist. He studied clinical psychology at University College London. He is Professor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Developmental Science and Head of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at University College London, Chief Executive of the Anna Freud Centre, a training and supervising analyst in the British Psycho-Analytical Society in child and adult analysis, a Fellow of the British Academy, the Faculty of Medical Sciences, the Academy of Social Sciences and a registrant of the BPC. His clinical interests centre on issues of borderline psychopathology, violence and early attachment relationships. His work attempts to integrate empirical research with psychoanalytic theory. He has published over 500 papers, 270 chapters and has authored 19 and edited 17 books.
Supportive psychotherapy is a psychotherapeutic approach that integrates various therapeutic schools such as psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral, as well as interpersonal conceptual models and techniques. The aim of supportive psychotherapy is to reduce or to relieve the intensity of manifested or presenting symptoms, distress or disability. It also reduces the extent of behavioral disruptions caused by the patient's psychic conflicts or disturbances. Unlike in psychoanalysis, in which the analyst works to maintain a neutral demeanor as a "blank canvas" for transference, in supportive therapy the therapist engages in a fully emotional, encouraging, and supportive relationship with the patient as a method of furthering healthy defense mechanisms, especially in the context of interpersonal relationships.
The mainstay of management of borderline personality disorder is various forms of psychotherapy with medications being found to be of little use.
Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) refers to a syndrome consisting of a distinct set of symptoms following the death of a loved one. PGD is experienced by about 10 percent of bereaved survivors, though rates vary depending on the circumstances. The affected person is incapacitated by grief, so focused on the loss that it is difficult to care about much else. He or she often ruminates about the death and longs for a reunion with the departed, while feeling unsure of his or her own identity and place in the world. The victim will develop a flat and dull outlook on life, feeling that the future holds no prospect of joy, satisfaction or pleasure. The bereaved person who suffers from PGD feels devalued and in constant turmoil, with an inability to adjust to life without the beloved.
John Derg Sutherland, also known as Jock Sutherland, was a Scottish physician, psychoanalyst and theorist, notable also for his role as Medical Director of the Tavistock Clinic.
Testimony of Hamilton G, Stevens K, Toffler W et al.