Leonard Shengold (December 5, 1925 – February 4, 2020) was an American psychiatrist known for his studies on

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

Biography

Shengold was born on December 5, 1925, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

. Both his parents were Jewish, and his father was a watchmaker originating from

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

and his mother a homemaker from

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. During his youth, he noted that his father was prone to having severe angina attacks and died when he was 12 years old. He attended

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

for one semester before transferring to Columbia College, where he studied under Lionel Trilling, who sparked his interest in Freud and psychoanalysis. He joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and served in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as a radio operator and then as a clerk in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. He then returned to Columbia after the war, graduating in 1947, and received his medical degree from Long Island College of Medicine, now known as SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. He was also trained at what is now known as the Psychoanalytic Association of New York, affiliated with the

New York University School of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School of ...

. He started career as a training analyst at the institute, as well as its director from 1975 to 1978, and taught psychiatry at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He received a Sigourney Award for advancing work in psychoanalysis in 1997. Shengold was known for his studies of child abuse, observing the damage of childhood on numerous adult patients and equated the long-term physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and neglect of children by their adult parents as “soul murder.” Drawing from clinical cases and literary works of

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

and

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, he argued that helpless children easily fall prey to their tormentors because of their physical and emotional dependence on them, and grew up identifying with the abuser and repeating the experiences of abuse. In addition to treating adult victims of childhood, he also treated writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks for nearly a half-century. Michiko Kakutani credited Shengold for having formulated "a modern psychiatric definition of soul murder" in reviewing his 1989 book ''Soul Murder: The Effects of Childhood Abuse and Deprivation'' (1989).

Harold F. Blum Harold Francis Blum (1899 - 1980) was a physiologist who explored the interaction of light and chemicals on cells, especially sunlight-induced skin cancer. Early life and education Harold Blum was born on February 12, 1899, in Escondido, Califo ...

said that Shengold's work had been valuable in fathoming the psychological depth of childhood abuse and identifying the key role of unconscious fantasies in understanding traumatic experiences. Shengold died of leukemia on February 4, 2020 at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shengold, Leopard 1925 births 2020 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni Syracuse University alumni American psychiatrists 20th-century American psychologists New York University faculty SUNY Downstate Medical Center alumni People from Syracuse, New York 21st-century American psychologists American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent