List of famous figures in psychiatry

This is a list of notable figures who have been involved in the history of psychiatry

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

. See also list of psychiatrists.

Psychiatrists	Speciality
Alfred Adler Alfred Adler Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna...	Individual psychology
Nancy C. Andreasen Nancy C. Andreasen Nancy Coover Andreasen is an American neuroscientist and neuropsychiatrist. She currently holds the Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.-Early life:...	Schizophrenia
Vittorino Andreoli	Psychiatric anthropology
Franco Basaglia Franco Basaglia Franco Basaglia was an Italian psychiatrist and neurologist, professor who proposed the dismantling of psychiatric hospitals, pioneer of the modern concept of mental health, Italian psychiatry reformer, charismatic leader in Italian psychiatry, figurehead and founder of Democratic...	Antipsychiatry
Jack Barchas Jack Barchas Jack David Barchas, M.D. is the Barklie McKee Henry Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University and the Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Payne Whitney Psychiatric...	Biological basis of schizophrenia
Aaron Beck	Cognitive therapy
Wilfred Bion Wilfred Bion Wilfred Ruprecht Bion DSO was an influential British psychoanalyst, who became president of the British Psychoanalytical Society from 1962 to 1965....	Psychoanalysis and group therapy
Eugene Bleuler	Diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia
John Bowlby John Bowlby Edward John Mostyn "John" Bowlby was a British psychologist, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory.- Family background :...	Attachment behavior
Ian Brockington Ian Brockington Ian Brockington was the son of Colin Fraser Brockington, one of the top names in British medicine. Ian trained as a cardiologist and went to Nigeria where he completed a monumental work on cardiomyopathy which formed the basis for his doctoral thesis .However, on his return he decided to train in...	Nosological pioneer
John Cade John Cade For the former Maryland State Senator, see John A. CadeFor the Louisiana Republican state chairman, see John H. Cade, Jr.Dr John Frederick Joseph Cade AO was an Australian psychiatrist credited with discovering the effects of lithium carbonate as a mood stabilizer in the treatment of bipolar...	Lithium therapy
Ugo Cerletti Ugo Cerletti Ugo Cerletti was an Italian neurologist who discovered the method of electroconvulsive therapy in psychiatry. Electroconvulsive therapy is a procedure in which electric currents are passed through the brain, deliberately triggering a brief seizure...	Electroconvulsive therapy
Edmund Chiu	Huntington's chorea
Tim Crow Tim Crow Tim Crow is a British psychiatrist and researcher from Oxford. Much of his research is related to the causes of schizophrenia. He also has an interest in neurology and the evolutionary theory. He is the Honorary Director of the Prince of Wales International Centre for Research into Schizophrenia...	Biological basis of schizophrenia
Pierre Deniker Pierre Deniker Pierre Deniker was involved, jointly with Jean Delay and J. M. Harl, in the introduction of chlorpromazine , the first antipsychotic used in the treatment of schizophrenia, in the 1950's. Thorazine had been used in surgical procedures peri-operatively as an anti-nausea medication in France....	Chlorpromazine
Leon Eisenberg Leon Eisenberg Leon Eisenberg was a child psychiatrist, social psychiatrist and medical educator who . He was credited with a number of "firsts" in medicine and psychiatry - in child psychiatry, autism, and the controversies around autism, randomized clinical trials , social medicine, global health, affirmative...	Psychiatric anthropology
Milton Erickson	Hypnosis
Jean Etienne Esquirol	Descriptive psychopathology, postnatal depression
Frantz Fanon Frantz Fanon Frantz Fanon was a Martiniquo-Algerian psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer whose work is influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory and Marxism...	Effects of discrimination
Daniel X. Freedman	Biological psychiatry
Christopher Paul Lindsay Freeman	Electroconvulsive therapy
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...	Psychoanalysis
William Glasser William Glasser William Glasser, M.D. is an American psychiatrist.Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he is the developer of reality therapy and choice theory...	Reality therapy, Choice theory
Max Hamilton	Depression and anxiety scales
Albert Hofmann Albert Hofmann Albert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide . He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child...	Father of LSD
Kevin Gournay	Schizophrenia, Depression and Cognitive Therapy
Karen Horney Karen Horney Karen Horney born Danielsen was a German-American psychoanalyst. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views, particularly his theory of sexuality, as well as the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis and its genetic psychology...	Womb envy
Pierre Janet Pierre Janet Pierre Marie Félix Janet was a pioneering French psychologist, philosopher and psychotherapist in the field of dissociation and traumatic memory....	Dissociation
Karl Jaspers Karl Jaspers Karl Theodor Jaspers was a German psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspers turned to philosophical inquiry and attempted to discover an innovative philosophical system...	Phenomenology
Eve Johnstone Eve Johnstone Eve C. Johnstone , CBE MD FRCP FRCPsych DPM FMedSci FRSE is a Scottish neuroscientist. She is currently Professor of Psychiatry and Head of the Division of Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh....	Brain changes in schizophrenia
Maxwell Jones	Therapeutic community
Carl Gustav Jung	Analytical psychology
Seymour Kety	Psychiatric genetics
Eric R. Kandel Eric R. Kandel Eric Richard Kandel is an American neuropsychiatrist who was a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons...	Molecular basis for memory
Leo Kanner Leo Kanner Leo Kanner was a Jewish American psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism. Kanner's work formed the foundation of child and adolescent psychiatry in the U.S. and worldwide....	Autism
Jacob Kasanin	Schizoaffective psychosis
Otto Kernberg	Psychoanalysis
Arthur Kleinman Arthur Kleinman Arthur Kleinman is a prominent American psychiatrist and is the Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of medical anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry at Harvard University, USA. He is well known for his work on mental illness in Chinese culture, was the chair of the Harvard Department of...	Psychiatric anthropologist
Emil Kraepelin Emil Kraepelin Emil Kraepelin was a German psychiatrist. H.J. Eysenck's Encyclopedia of Psychology identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, as well as of psychopharmacology and psychiatric genetics. Kraepelin believed the chief origin of psychiatric disease to be biological and genetic...	Psychiatric methodology
> Sexuality
Norman Krietman Norman Krietman Norman Kreitman is a well-known psychiatric researcher in Edinburgh who is primarily known for coining the term parasuicide.-References:.....	Psychiatric epidemiology
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. was a Swiss American psychiatrist, a pioneer in Near-death studies and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying , where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model.She is a 2007 inductee into the American National Women's Hall of Fame...	Stages of Grief
R. D. Laing	Antipsychiatry
Karl Leonhard Karl Leonhard Karl Leonhard was a German psychiatrist, who stood in the tradition of Carl Wernicke and Karl Kleist. He created a complex classification of psychotic illnesses called nosological.His work covered Psychology, Psychotherapy, Biological psychiatry and Biological psychology...	Classification of Psychosis,cycloid psychosis
Sir Aubrey Lewis	Nosology
Alwyn Lishman	Neuropsychiatry
Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi Ali ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi , also known as Masoudi, or Latinized as Haly Abbas, was a Persian physician and psychologist most famous for the Kitab al-Maliki or Complete Book of the Medical Art, his textbook on medicine and psychology.-Biography:He was born in Ahvaz, southwestern Persia, and... (Haly Abbas)	Mental disorders
Abraham Maslow Abraham Maslow Abraham Harold Maslow was an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs...	Humanistic Psychology
Niall McLaren	Biocognitive Theory of the Mind
Peter McGuffin Peter McGuffin Peter McGuffin is a psychiatric geneticist from Belfast, Northern Ireland.After emigrating with his parents at aged 10 to the Isle of Wight, he first decided that he wanted to be a psychiatrist at the age of 16 after coming across Freud’s Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, in a local public...	Psychiatric genetics
Ladislas von Meduna	Pharmacoconvulsions
Adolf Meyer Adolf Meyer (psychiatrist) Adolf Meyer, M.D., LL.D., , was a Swiss psychiatrist who rose to prominence as the president of the American Psychiatric Association and was one of the most influential figures in psychiatry in the first half of the twentieth century... > Psychobiology
Egas Moniz Egas Moniz António Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz , known as Egas Moniz , was a Portuguese neurologist and the developer of cerebral angiography...	Psychosurgery
Jacob Moreno	Psychodrama and Group Psychotherapy
Robin Murray Robin Murray Sir Robin MacGregor Murray is Professor of Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London, United Kingdom.. He also sees patients with schizophrenia and bipolar illness at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. He is originally from Glasgow.He is part of The Psychosis...	Schizophrenia
John Nemiah	Psychotherapy
Ian Oswald Ian Oswald Ian Oswald is a retired sleep researcher and psychiatrist.-Academic career:He was educated first in London and later in Belper, Derbyshire. In 1947, he became a medical student at Caius College, Cambridge, gaining a First Class Honours degree in the Part 2 Tripos in Psychology...	Sleep research
Ivan Pavlov Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a famous Russian physiologist. Although he made significant contributions to psychology, he was not in fact a psychologist himself but was a mathematician and actually had strong distaste for the field....	Conditioning
Eugene Paykel	Social psychiatry
Philippe Pinel Philippe Pinel Philippe Pinel was a French physician who was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of psychiatric patients, referred to today as moral therapy...	Psychiatric treatment
W. H. R. Rivers W. H. R. Rivers William Halse Rivers Rivers, FRCP, FRS, was an English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist and psychiatrist, best known for his work with shell-shocked soldiers during World War I. Rivers' most famous patient was the poet Siegfried Sassoon...	Psychiatric anthropologist
Martin Roth Martin Roth Professor Sir Martin Roth FRS was a British psychiatrist.He was Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, 1977–85, then Professor Emeritus, and was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge from 1977. He was one of the pioneers in developing Psychogeriatrics as a subspecialty.-References:...	Psychogeriatrics
Michael Rutter Michael Rutter For the motorcycle racer, see Michael Rutter Sir Michael L. Rutter is the first consultant of child psychiatry in the United Kingdom. He has been described as the "father of child psychology"...	Child psychiatry
Kurt Schneider Kurt Schneider Kurt Schneider was a German psychiatrist known largely for his writing on the diagnosis and understanding of schizophrenia.-Biography:...	Diagnostic criteria
Mogens Schou Mogens Schou Mogens Schou was a Danish psychiatrist whose groundbreaking research into Lithium led to its utilization as a treatment for bipolar illness. His work ultimately benefited thousands of patients worldwide....	Lithium therapy
Michael Shepherd Michael Shepherd (psychiatrist) Michael Shepherd, CBE, FRCP, FRCPsych , FAPA , FAPHA was one of the most influential and internationally respected psychiatrists of his time, formerly Professor of Epidemiological Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Consultant Psychiatrist, The Maudsley Hospital, London and author of a number...	Psychiatric epidemiology
Peter Sifneos	Psychotherapy
Elliot Slater	Psychiatric epidemiology
Robert Spitzer Robert Spitzer (psychiatrist) Robert L. Spitzer was a major architect of the modern classification of mental disorders. He is a retired professor of psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City, United States and was on the research faculty of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He... > Diagnostic criteria
Solomon H.Snyder	Neurotransmitters
Harry Stack Sullivan Harry Stack Sullivan Harry Stack Sullivan was a U.S. psychiatrist whose work in psychoanalysis was based on direct and verifiable observation .-Life and works:Sullivan was a child of Irish immigrants and allegedly grew up in an...	Interpersonal psychiatry
Hans Steiner Hans Steiner Hans Steiner is Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences , Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Human Development at Stanford University, School of Medicine...	Child Psychiatry
Thomas Szasz Thomas Szasz Thomas Stephen Szasz is a psychiatrist and academic. Since 1990 he has been Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York. He is a well-known social critic of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry, and of the social...	Antipsychiatry
Eng Seong Tan	Cross-cultural psychiatry
Fuller Torrey	Treatment of schizophrenia
Ming Tsuang	Psychiatric genetics
John Batty Tuke John Batty Tuke Sir John Batty Tuke was one of the most influential psychiatrists in Scotland in the late nineteenth century. Tuke’s career in Edinburgh from 1863 to 1910 spanned a period of significant social and political changes in asylum governance and care in Scotland...	Neuroscientist
Julius Wagner-Jauregg Julius Wagner-Jauregg Julius Wagner-Jauregg was an Austrian physician, Nobel Laureate, and Nazi supporter.-Early life:...	Treatment of GPI
Paul Watzlawick Paul Watzlawick Paul Watzlawick was an Austrian-American psychologist and philosopher. A theoretician in communication theory and radical constructivism, he has commented in the fields of family therapy and general psychotherapy...	Communication theory of mental health
Sula Wolff Sula Wolff Sula Wolff a prominent British child psychiatrist, was born in Berlin, Germany in 1924. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 she and her family came to Britain...	Stress in children
Irvin Yalom	Group psychotherapy

Other researchers(not trained as psychiatrists)	Specialty
Michel Foucault Michel Foucault Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...	Philosophy
Anna Freud Anna Freud Anna Freud was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. Born in Vienna, she followed the path of her father and contributed to the newly born field of psychoanalysis...	Child analysis
Erving Goffman Erving Goffman Erving Goffman was a Canadian-born sociologist and writer.The 73rd president of American Sociological Association, Goffman's greatest contribution to social theory is his study of symbolic interaction in the form of dramaturgical perspective that began with his 1959 book The Presentation of Self...	Social psychology
Kay Redfield Jamison Kay Redfield Jamison Kay Redfield Jamison is an American clinical psychologist and writer whose work has centered on bipolar disorder which she has suffered from since her early adulthood... > Bipolar affective disorder
Ivan Pavlov Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a famous Russian physiologist. Although he made significant contributions to psychology, he was not in fact a psychologist himself but was a mathematician and actually had strong distaste for the field....	Behavioral psychology
Jean Piaget Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....	Cognitive development
Carl Rogers Carl Rogers Carl Ransom Rogers was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology...	Person-centred psychotherapy
Joseph Wolpe Joseph Wolpe Joseph Wolpe was born on April 20, 1915, in Johannesburg, South Africa, and died on December 4, 1997, from lung cancer. He is one of the most influential figures in behavior therapy....	Behavior therapy

Alphabetic List

Aaron Beck Cognitive therapy

Abraham Maslow Humanistic Psychology

Adolf Meyer Psychobiology

Albert Hofmann Father of LSD

Alfred Adler Individual psychology

Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi (Haly Abbas) Mental disorders

Alwyn Lishman Neuropsychiatry

Arthur Kleinman Psychiatric anthropologist

Carl Gustav Jung Analytical psychology

Christopher Paul Lindsay Freeman Electroconvulsive therapy

Daniel X Freedman Biological psychiatry

Edmund Chiu Huntington's chorea

Egas Moniz Psychosurgery

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Stages of Grief

Elliot Slater Psychiatric epidemiology

Emil Kraepelin Psychiatric methodology

Eng Seong Tan Cross-cultural psychiatry

Eric R. Kandel Molecular basis for memory

Eugene Bleuler Diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia

Eugene Paykel Social psychiatry

Eve Johnstone Brain changes in schizophrenia

Franco Basaglia Antipsychiatry

Frantz Fanon Effects of discrimination

Fuller Torrey Treatment of schizophrenia

Harry Stack Sullivan Interpersonal psychiatry

Ian Brockington Nosological pioneer

Ian Oswald Sleep research

Irvin Yalom Group psychotherapy

Ivan Pavlov Conditioning

Jack Barchas Biological basis of schizophrenia

Jacob Moreno Psychodrama and Group Psychotherapy

Jean Etienne Esquirol Descriptive psychopathology, postnatal depression

John Batty Tuke Neuroscientist

John Bowlby Attachment behaviour

John Cade Lithium therapy

John Nemiah Psychotherapy

Julius Wagner-Jauregg Treatment of GPI

Karen Horney Womb envy

Karl Jaspers Phenomenology

Karl Leonhard Classification of Psychosis, cycloid psychosis

Kurt Schneider Diagnostic criteria

Ladislas von Meduna Pharmacoconvulsions

Leo Kanner Autism

Leon Eisenberg Psychiatric anthropology

Martin Roth Psychogeriatrics

Max Hamilton Depression and anxiety scales

Maxwell Jones Therapeutic community

Michael Rutter Child psychiatry

Michael Shepherd Psychiatric epidemiology

Milton Erickson Hypnosis

Ming Tsuang Psychiatric genetics

Mogens Schou Lithium therapy

Nancy C. Andreasen Schizophrenia

Niall McLaren Biocognitive Theory of the Mind

Norman Krietman Psychiatric epidemiology

Otto Kernberg Psychoanalysis

Paul Watzlawick Communication theory of mental health

Peter McGuffin Psychiatric genetics

Peter Sifneos Psychotherapy

Philippe Pinel Psychiatric treatment

Pierre Deniker Chlorpromazine

Pierre Janet Dissociation

R. D. Laing Antipsychiatry

Richard von Krafft-Ebbing Sexuality

Robert Spitzer Diagnostic criteria

Robin Murray Schizophrenia

Seymour Kety Psychiatric genetics

Sigmund Freud Psychoanalysis

Sir Aubrey Lewis Nosology

Solomon H. Snyder Neurotransmitters

Sula Wolff Stress in children

Thomas Szasz Antipsychiatry

Tim Crow Biological basis of schizophrenia

Ugo Cerletti Electroconvulsive therapy

Vittorino Andreoli Psychiatric anthropologist

W. H. R. Rivers Psychiatric anthropologist

Wilfred Bion Psychoanalysis and group therapy

William Glasser Reality therapy, Choice theory