Leston Laycock Havens (July 31, 1924July 29, 2011) was an American psychiatrist, psychotherapist and medical educator. Dr. Havens is best known for his work on biological psychiatry, the rehabilitation of severely ill patients, and methods of interviewing patients.. He was also a pioneer in the establishment of hospital

psychopharmacology Psychopharmacology (from Greek grc, ψῡχή, psȳkhē, breath, life, soul, label=none; grc, φάρμακον, pharmakon, drug, label=none; and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none) is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mo ...

units.

Early life

Havens was born on July 31, 1924 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York City,"Leston Laycock Havens." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2017-07-09. where he also grew up.Marquard, Bryan (August 14, 2011).
Leston Havens, at 86; was noted psychiatrist, author
. ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''. boston.com. Retrieved 2017-07-09. His father was a lawyer, and Havens originally considered law as a career path before deciding on medicine. When he entered

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

, in

Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolit ...

, he studied English and history, as well as philosophy. In 1944, 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 opposing ...

, he joined the

U.S. 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, cl ...

, serving until 1946. He was stationed on

Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the ...

, a captured Japanese island in the Pacific, where he located and detonated abandoned ammunition. After his discharge from the military, Havens completed his B.A. magna cum laude, in 1947.

Academic life

Havens went on to attend

Cornell Medical School The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York (state), New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is af ...

, graduating with his M.D. in 1952. He served as an intern in Internal Medicine at the New York Hospital and stayed there until 1954 as an assistant resident. Havens completed his residency from 1954 to 1958 at the

Boston Psychopathic Hospital The Boston Psychopathic Hospital, established at 74 Fenwood Road in 1912, was one of the first mental health hospitals in Massachusetts, United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The name was cha ...

(now the

Massachusetts Mental Health Center The Massachusetts Mental Health Center is a historic psychiatric hospital complex at 75 Fenwood Road in the Longwood medical area of Boston, Massachusetts. The center was founded in 1912 as the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. Its original main ...

). This began a long connection with the Harvard University Medical School. In 1954, Havens was appointed as a Teaching Fellow in Psychiatry at Harvard and by 1971 was promoted to full professor status at Harvard Medical School. While at Boston Psychopathic, Havens founded the Psychopharmacology Unit; one of the first in the country and one that would become famous. There he completed many studies on

Electroconvulsive Therapy Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure (without muscular convulsions) is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders.Rudorfer, MV, Henry, ME, Sackeim, HA (2003)"Electroconvulsive th ...

. Between 1964 and 1982 Havens directed the medical student clerkship at Boston Psychopathic. From 1987 to 1996. Havens directed the psychiatry residency program at Cambridge Hospital, a teaching hospital of

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 ...

. At Cambridge he was a beloved teacher and mentor who influenced the development of many psychiatrists and psychologists. He was an iconoclast and great patient advocate, teaching his students to listen and relate to their patients and not merely to categorize or pathologize them.

Awards

Leston Havens received many awards throughout his career. *1952

Cornell University Medical School The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

: Morton prize in Internal Medicine, Samuel prize in

ophthalmology Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

Alpha Omega Alpha Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society () is an honor society in the field of medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha currently has active Chapters in 132 LCME- accredited medical schools in the United States and Lebanon. It annually elects over 4,000 new ...

*1958 A.E. Bennett Award, Society of Biological Psychiatry *1962 McCurdy Prize, Massachusetts Society for Research in Psychiatry *1970 Fried Lecture,

Newton-Wellesley Hospital Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Founded in 1881, part of its ca ...

*1973

Who's Who in America Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...

*1977 H.C. Solomon Award with Thomas G. Gutheil, M.D. *1979 Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching, Harvard Medical School, plus numerous nominations *1979

Elvin Semrad Elvin Semrad (1909-1976) was a prominent American psychoanalytic psychiatrist. He was noted for his ability to establish a rapport with deeply troubled individuals. He was one of the most influential teachers of psychotherapy in his time and he had ...

Teaching Award, Massachusetts Mental Health Center *1981 Valentina Donahue-Turner Award for Teaching, Harvard Medical School *1986 Harry Stack Sullivan Lecture, The

Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, known to many simply as Sheppard Pratt, is a psychiatric hospital located in Towson, a northern suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1853, it is one of the oldest private psychiatric hospitals in the nati ...

*1986 Honorable Bernard Towson-Lectureship in Psychiatry, Cornell North Shore Hospital *1989 Frieda Fromm Reichman Lecturer, Washington Psychiatric Society *1992 Price Lecture, Trinity Church, Boston, MA *1995 Benjamin Rush Award and Lecture,

American Psychiatric Association 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 37,000 members are involv ...

*1995 Nomination for 1995 Harvard Medical School Award for Excellence in Mentoring *1997 William F. Orr Lecture *1997 Zigmond Lebensohn Lecture *1998 Lee Hasenbush Lecture, MMHC *1998 Jacob Finesinger Lecture,

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

*1999 Honorary Member,

William Alanson White Institute The William Alanson White Institute (WAWI), founded in 1943, is an institution for training psychoanalysts and psychotherapists which also offers general psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. It is located in New York City, United States, on the Up ...

, New York

Bibliography

*''Approaches to the Mind: Movement of the Psychiatric Schools From Sects Toward Science'' (1973 & 1987) *''Participant Observation'' (1976, 1983, & 1993) *''Making Contact: Uses of Language in Psychotherapy'' (1986) *''A Safe Place: Laying the Groundwork of Psychotherapy'' (1989, 1991, & 1996) *''Coming to Life'' (1993) *''Learning to Be Human'' (1994) *''The real World Guide to Psychotherapy Practice'' (2000) Written with Dr. Alex N. Sabo

External links

Leston L. Havens MD Teaching Site (archived website)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Havens, Leston 1924 births 2011 deaths American psychiatrists American psychotherapists Weill Cornell Medical College alumni Williams College alumni United States Army personnel of World War II