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
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
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
Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...
led to the naming of a joint
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
–
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
-run mental health complex in Boston in his honor, the
Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center.
Education
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
fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
ship to
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
, and in 1929 made his move to the United States permanent.
Work
Author of "Symptomatology and Management of Acute Grief", a paper on
posttraumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats ...
. It was published in September 1944.
Studied the survivors of the
Cocoanut Grove fire
The Cocoanut Grove fire was a nightclub fire which took place in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, on November 28, 1942, and resulted in the deaths of 492 people. It is the deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, and the second-deadliest ...
(1942), which was the deadliest
nightclub
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
fire in
United States history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...
.
References
External links
* David George Satin, M.D
Erich Lindemann: The Humanist and the Era of Community Mental Health Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 126, Number 4, Aug. 1982
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, 2003
* S. Fleck
Erich Lindemann 1900–1974 Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, Volume 10, Number 3, 153,
Erich Lindemann papers, 1885-1991 (inclusive), 1950-1974 (bulk). H MS c219. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass.
American psychiatrists
German psychiatrists
1974 deaths
Harvard Medical School alumni
Physicians of Massachusetts General Hospital
1900 births
20th-century American physicians
German emigrants to the United States
{{US-psychiatrist-stub