Loren Mosher

Loren Mosher
Born(1933-09-03)3 September 1933
Monterey, California, US
Died10 July 2004(2004-07-10) (aged 70)
Berlin, Germany
NationalityAmerican
Alma materStanford University, Harvard University
Known forCreating Soteria, founding Schizophrenia Bulletin
Scientific career
FieldsPsychiatry
InstitutionsYale University, National Institute of Mental Health, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, University of California, American Psychiatric Association, MindFreedom International, Mosher's consulting company Soteria Associates
Websitewww.moshersoteria.com

Loren Richard Mosher (September 3, 1933, Monterey, California – July 10, 2004, Berlin)[1][2] was an American psychiatrist,[2][3]: 21  clinical professor of psychiatry,[1][4][5] expert on schizophrenia[4][5] and the chief of the Center for Studies of Schizophrenia in the National Institute of Mental Health (1968–1980).[1][2][4] Mosher spent his professional career advocating for humane and effective treatment for people diagnosed as having schizophrenia[2] and was instrumental in developing an innovative, residential, home-like, non-hospital, non-drug treatment model for newly identified acutely psychotic persons.[1]

In the 1970s, Mosher, then Chief of the newly formed Center for Schizophrenia Research, wrote a grant to obtain funding for a novel idea for treating people diagnosed with schizophrenia; an intensive psychosocial milieu-based residential treatment known as the Soteria Project. The results of the study were remarkable and showed that people with schizophrenia did in fact recover from the illness without the use of neuroleptics in a supportive home-like environment.[6]

Progressively vocal in his opposition to the prevailing psychiatric practices of the time and the increasing reliance on pharmaceuticals for treatment, Mosher managed to anger and isolate himself from many of his colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health, and was finally dismissed from his position in 1980.[5] Disillusioned with the field, he wrote a very public letter of resignation from the American Psychiatric Association in 1998, stating that "After nearly three decades as a member it is with a mixture of pleasure and disappointment that I submit this letter of resignation from the American Psychiatric Association. The major reason for this action is my belief that I am actually resigning from the American Psychopharmacological Association. Luckily, the organization's true identity requires no change in the acronym."[7][8]

  1. ^ a b c d Redler, Leon (July 28, 2004). "Loren Mosher: US psychiatrist whose non-drug treatments helped his patients (Obituary)". The Guardian.
  2. ^ a b c d Lenzer, Jeanne (August 21, 2004). "Obituary: Loren Mosher". British Medical Journal. 329 (7463): 463. doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7463.463. PMC 514223.
  3. ^ Bentall, Richard (2009). Doctoring the mind: is our current treatment of mental illness really any good?. NYU Press. pp. 21–23. ISBN 978-0-8147-9148-6.
  4. ^ a b c Aderhold, Volkmar; Burti, Lorenzo; Ciompi, Luc; Estroff, Sue; Hendrix, Voyce; Oaks, David; Warner, Richard (2004). "Loren Mosher: In Memoriam" (PDF). Schizophrenia Bulletin. 30 (4): vi–vii.[dead link]
  5. ^ a b c Bernstein, Adam (July 20, 2004). "Contrarian Psychiatrist Loren Mosher, 70". The Washington Post. pp. B06.
  6. ^ Bola, John; Mosher, Loren (April 2003). "Treatment of acute psychosis without neuroleptics: Two year outcomes from the Soteria Project" (PDF). The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 191 (4): 219–229. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.564.2860. doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000061148.84257.f9. PMID 12695732. S2CID 1095393.
  7. ^ "Are psychiatrists betraying their patients?" (PDF). Psychology Today. Vol. 32, no. 5. September–October 1993. pp. 219–229. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 1, 2012. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  8. ^ Mosher, Loren (December 4, 1998). "Letter of resignation from the American Psychiatric Association". Soteria site. Retrieved January 16, 2014.