Anthony Storr (18 May 1920 – 17 March 2001) was an English psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author.

Background and education

Born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Storr was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

, Christ's College, Cambridge, and

Westminster Hospital Westminster Hospital was a hospital in London, England, founded in 1719. In 1834 a medical school attached to the hospital was formally founded. In 1939 a newly built hospital and medical school opened in Horseferry Road, Westminster. In 1994 the ...

. He was in the first cohort of medics to train in Jungian analysis at the

Society of Analytical Psychology The Society of Analytical Psychology, known also as the SAP, incorporated in London, England, in 1945 is the oldest training organisation for Jungian analysts in the United Kingdom. Its first Honorary President in 1946 was Carl Jung. The Societ ...

in London.

Career

In 1974, Storr moved from private practice to a teaching appointment at the

Warneford Hospital The Warneford Hospital is a hospital providing mental health services at Headington in east Oxford, England. It is managed by the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital opened as the ''Oxford Lunatic Asylum'' in July 1826. It ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, until his retirement in 1984.

Personal

Storr was, as one of his obituarists observed, "no stranger to suffering at formative stages of his life." He married twice, to Catherine Cole (who became a children's writer under her married name) in 1942 and writer Catherine Peters in 1970 after the first marriage ended in divorce.

Distinctions

* Emeritus Fellow of Green College (1984) * Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1990) * Honorary

FRCPsych The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental health ...

(1993)

Works

In his books, Storr explored the secrets of the dark sides of the human psyche – sexual deviations (''Sexual Deviation'', 1964), aggression (''Human Aggression'', 1968), and destructiveness (''Human Destructiveness'', 1972). At the same time, he saw the possibility of creative use of these spontaneous drives and directing them towards sports, scientific and artistic feats (''The Dynamics of Creation'', 1972). In his book Music and the mind Storr's fluidly logical exploration begins with an assessment of various theories on the origins of music. Like Oliver Sacks, he leads his reader effortlessly through a capacious synthesis of diverse material without resorting to unnecessary technical jargon. In chapter 3 of the book Storr writes:

Although music is sometimes referred to as a universal language, this is an entirely misleading description. The difficulty of appreciating music from different periods of history or from different cultures is a powerful argument in favour of the view that the various types of music are predominantly cultural artefacts rather than based on natural phenomena.

In his final book ''Feet of Clay; Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: The Power and Charisma of Gurus'' (1996) Storr tracks typical patterns, often involving

psychotic disorders Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior t ...

that shape the development of the

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

. He challenges Jesus' mental health by implying that there are psychological similarities between crazy "messiahs" such as

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide ...

David Koresh David Koresh (; born Vernon Wayne Howell; August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993) was an American cult leader who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993. As the head of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect and offshoot of the Davidian Se ...

, and respected religious leaders, including

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

. His study is an attempt to look at Jesus as one of many gurus.

Publications

* ''The Integrity of the Personality'' (1961) * ''Sexual Deviation'' (1964) * ''Human Aggression'' (1968) * ''Human Destructiveness'' (1972) * ''The Dynamics of Creation'' (1972) * ''Jung'' (1973) * ''The Essential Jung'' (1983) * ''The School of Genius'' (1988) * ''Solitude: A Return to the Self'' (1988) — paperback retitling of ''The School of Genius'' * ''Freud'' (1989) * ''The Art of Psychotherapy'' (1979, 1980) * ''Churchill's Black Dog, Kafka's Mice, and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind'' (1990) * ''Human Destructiveness: The Roots of Genocide and Human Cruelty'' (1991) – fully revised edition of ''Human Destructiveness'' * ''Music and the Mind'' (1992) * ''Feet of Clay; Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus'' (1996) * ''The Essential Jung: Selected Writings'' (1998) – another edition of ''The Essential Jung'' * ''Freud: A Very Short Introduction'' (2001) – another edition of ''Freud''

Background and education

Career

Personal

Distinctions

Works

Publications

See also

References

Further reading