Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:460-464
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Adolf Meyer and American psychiatry today
JR Neill
After his death in 1950 Adolf Meyer, the "Dean of American Psychiatry," was
forgotten by most in the field. As a result, his role in determining the
course of psychiatry's current identity crisis remains largely unexplored.
Meyer was responsible for enlarging the domain of psychiatry to include
involvement in the mental health movement. He fostered a disenchantment
with psychiatric diagnosis and with the current ideological pluralism. The
authors suggests that there is much in Meyer's thought and work that can be
applied to help resolve psychiatry's current crisis.
