Francis Reitmann
Encyclopedia
Dr. Francis Reitmann was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

. After studying with Ladislas J. Meduna
Ladislas J. Meduna
Ladislas J. Meduna was a Hungarian neurologist and neuropathologist noted for his development of shock treatment for persons suffering from schizophrenia.Meduna was born to a well-to-do family in Budapest, Hungary, in 1896...

 in the 1930s, he worked at Maudsley Hospital
Maudsley Hospital
The Maudsley Hospital is a British psychiatric hospital in South London. The Maudsley is the largest mental health training institution in the country...

 and later with Eric Cunningham Dax
Eric Cunningham Dax
Dr Eric Cunningham Dax, AO, BSc Lond, HonMD, FRACP, FRANZCP, HonFRCPsych was a British psychiatrist resident in Australia from 1952.-Clinical Work in England:...

 at Netherne Hospital in Coulsdon
Coulsdon
Coulsdon is a town on the southernmost boundary of the London Borough of Croydon. It is surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt of the Farthing Down, Coulsdon Common and Kenley Common...

 .

Reitmann followed the theory of biological psychiatry
Biological psychiatry
Biological psychiatry, or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as neuroscience, psychopharmacology, biochemistry, genetics and...

 that organic defects were the sole source of mental illness , and therefore mental problems could be treated by physical means; he carried out experiments in the fields of shock therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...

  and leucotomy

His surname is sometimes spelled Reitman.
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