Gerald Francis Morris Russell (12 January 1928 – 26 July 2018) was a British psychiatrist. In 1979 he published one of the first descriptions of

bulimia nervosa Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eaten ...

, and

Russell's sign Russell's sign, named after British psychiatrist Gerald Russell, is a sign defined as calluses on the knuckles or back of the hand due to repeated self-induced vomiting over long periods of time. The condition generally arises from the patient's ...

has been named after him.

Early life and education

Gerald Francis Morris Russell's father was a diplomate who worked at the British Embassy in Belgium. Russell went to school in Brussels. At the onset of World War 2 the family moved to the UK.Geoff Watt
Gerald Francis Morris Russell.
The Lancet, Vol.392, Number 10158, 3 November 2018 He then attended

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1741, became a day school in 1871, and was merg ...

, Edinburgh, and qualified as a medical doctor with

MBChB Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1950. In 1957 Russell gained a PhD in Neurology from the University of Edinburgh. Russell was advised to complete training by temporarily working in psychiatry. While at London's Maudsley Hospital he met the psychiatrist Aubrey Lewis and "was completely won over by the way that Lewis thought about and practised psychiatry" and became a psychiatrist too.

Career

From 1971 to 1979 Russell was a professor and consultant psychiatrist at the Royal Free Hospital,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. During this time he noticed patients who were overeating followed by self-induced vomiting or using purgatives or both and a morbid fear of becoming fat which not to fit the classic description of

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gr ...

. He called it

. From 1979 to 1993 he was a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry at the

Maudsley Hospital The Maudsley Hospital is a British psychiatric hospital in south London. The Maudsley is the largest mental health training institution in the UK. It is part of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and works in partnership with the ...

, London, where he set up an eating disorder unit, which has been named after him. He used family therapy as a treatment for eating disorders and -in one of the earliest and most influential critical assessments of its efficacy- evaluated it in a controlled trial. From 1993 onward he worked at Priory Hosp Hayes Grove, Bromley, Kent.

Personal life

Russell married Margaret née Taylor on 8 September 1950, and they had three sons, born 1951, 1956 and 1957. His hobbies included art galleries, photography, and music. He died of cancer in London, on 26 July 2018, aged 90 years.

References

External links

Debrett's online
1928 births 2018 deaths British psychiatrists People educated at George Watson's College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English psychiatrists 20th-century English medical doctors {{UK-psychiatrist-stub