David Wilfred Abse (15 March 1915 – 4 November 2005) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

psychiatrist. Abse was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, a brother of the poet

Dannie Abse Daniel Abse CBE FRSL (22 September 1923 – 28 September 2014) was a Welsh poet and physician. His poetry won him many awards. As a medic, he worked in a chest clinic for over 30 years. Early years Abse was born in Cardiff, Wales, as the young ...

(1923–2014) and the politician

Leo Abse Leopold Abse (22 April 1917 – 19 August 2008) was a Welsh lawyer and politician. He was a Welsh Labour MP for nearly 30 years, noted for promoting private member's bills to decriminalise male homosexual relations and liberalise the divorce l ...

(1917–2008). During and after

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 ...

, he served in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

. In 1941, he participated in the examination of the Nazi leader

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

, who had been captured in Scotland during an unsuccessful peace mission. Abse was later stationed in India, eventually rising to the rank of Major. A

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...

, Abse received his medical training from

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, then emigrated to the United States to become professor of psychiatry at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. He spent the greater part of his career in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

, where he was a professor of psychiatry at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

from 1962 until 1980. Abse was known for his work in

group therapy Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, i ...

and

hysteria Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...

, and contributed to the ''Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease''. It was said that his younger brother Leo got his habit of Freudian allusion in his speeches from Wilfred.Luke Shepherd
/ref> Abse's work in

group analysis Group analysis (or group analytic psychotherapy) is a method of group psychotherapy originated by S. H. Foulkes in the 1940s. Group psychotherapy was pioneered by S. H. Foulkes with his psychoanalytic patients and later with soldiers in the Nort ...

was influenced by S.H. Foulkes, who was in London at the same time as Abse. Abse wrote that in group-analytic psychotherapy, each patient's unconscious defense struggle becomes manifest, producing unconscious regression. Feelings about early figures from childhood are aroused and, through transference, fixed on the group leader (or conductor). Childish feelings of jealousy and rivalry lead participants to become concerned about which members in the group the group leader prefers.

Selected works

*''The diagnosis of hysteria'' (Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1950) *''Speech and reason: language disorder in mental disease'' (John Wright, Bristol, 1971) *''Clinical notes on group-analytic psychotherapy (University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1974) *''Marital & sexual counseling in medical practice, edited by D. Wilfred Abse, Ethel M. Nash, Lois M.R. Louden (Harper & Row, Medical Dept., Hagerstown, 2nd edition, 1974) *''Hysteria and Related Mental Disorders : an approach to psychological medicine'' (Wright, Bristol, 1987)

References

1915 births 2005 deaths Welsh psychiatrists Medical doctors from Cardiff Welsh Jews Group psychotherapists British people of Polish-Jewish descent Wilfred British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Medical Corps officers British expatriates in the United States Military personnel from Cardiff {{UK-psychiatrist-stub