Loren Mosher
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Loren Richard Mosher (September 3, 1933,
Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...
– July 10, 2004,
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
) was an American
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...
,
clinical professor Clinical professor, sometimes known as professor of practice, is an academic appointment made to a member of a profession who is associated with a university or other academic body, and engages in practical (clinical) instruction of students (e ...
of
psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...
, expert on
schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...
and the chief of the Center for Studies of Schizophrenia in the
National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primar ...
(1968–1980). Mosher spent his professional career advocating for humane and effective treatment for people diagnosed as having schizophrenia and was instrumental in developing an innovative, residential, home-like, non-hospital, non-drug treatment model for newly identified acutely psychotic persons. 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. 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. Disillusioned with the field, he wrote a very public letter of resignation from the
American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 39,200 members who are in ...
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."


Biography

Loren Mosher was born on September 3, 1933, in
Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...
, to the married couple of a teacher and boat builder. He earned his
undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...
from
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
and his
medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...
from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, starting work at NIMH in 1964. He undertook research training at the
Tavistock Clinic The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health trust based in north London. The Trust specialises in talking therapies. The education and training department caters for 2,000 students a year from the United Kin ...
in London from 1966 to 1967 and developed an interest in alternative treatments for schizophrenia. Before conceiving Soteria, Mosher supervised a ward in a psychiatric hospital at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
as its assistant professor, prescribed neuroleptics and was not against them. But by 1968, the year Mosher received the position of director of the Center for Schizophrenia Studies at the NIMH, he became convinced that the benefits of neuroleptics were overhyped. The house, known as Soteria, was opened in an area of
San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
, in April 1971. Mosher believed that the violent and controlling atmosphere of psychiatric hospitals and the over-use of drugs hindered recovery. Despite its success (it achieved superior results than the standard medical treatment with drugs), the Soteria Project closed in 1983 when, according to Loren Mosher and Robert Whitaker further funding was denied because of the politics of psychiatry that were increasingly controlled by the influence of pharmaceutical companies.. Robert Whitaker and Loren Mosher, interviewed by
Daniel Kriegman Daniel Kriegman is an American psychologist and writer whose work focuses on the interface between psychoanalysis and evolutionary biology. He was a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis, a founder of the Psychoanalytic ...
(shortly before Dr. Mosher's death in 2004) about the Soteria model and the problems with drug treatment.
Mosher is said to have had a far more nuanced view of the use of
drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...
than has been generally thought, and did not reject drugs altogether but insisted they be used as a last resort and in far lower doses than usual in the United States. After resigning from the NIMH (and sharing his thoughts about the current state of psychiatry in his resignation letter), he taught psychiatry at the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is a health science university and professional school of the U.S. federal government. The primary mission of the school is to prepare graduates for service to the U.S. at home and abroa ...
in Bethesda and became the head of the public mental health system in Montgomery County,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
. In Washington, D.C., he started a crisis residential home called Crossing Place, the first of its kind in the United States. In Maryland, he started a crisis house in Rockville, McAuliffe House, based on Soteria principles. During the Ritalin phenomenon of the 1990s, he was often featured as a dissenting view in scores of articles. He was the founder and first editor in chief of ''
Schizophrenia Bulletin ''Schizophrenia Bulletin'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal which covers research relating to the etiology and treatment of schizophrenia. The journal is published bimonthly by Oxford University Press in association with the Maryland Psychiatri ...
''. Mosher edited or co-authored some books, including ''Community Mental Health: A Practical Guide'', and published more than 100 reviews and articles.List of works on Google Scholar Citations
/ref> He held professorships and ran mental health programmes on both the US coasts. Mosher also headed his own consulting company, Soteria Associates, providing research, forensic and mental health consultation and cooperated for years with numerous advocacy groups, including the psychiatric survivor group
MindFreedom International MindFreedom International is an international coalition of over one hundred grassroots groups and thousands of individual members from fourteen nations. Based in the United States, it was founded in 1990 to advocate against forced medication, me ...
. He wrote a preface to Peter Lehmann's book ''Coming off Psychiatric Drugs'' (2004). In 1996, he left Washington for San Diego. He worked as a clinical professor of psychiatry for the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
at San Diego medical school. He was married to, and later divorced, Irene Carleton Mosher. At the time of his death, he was in Berlin for experimental cancer treatment. Among survivors are his wife, Judy Schreiber, three children from the first marriage, a granddaughter, and two brothers.


Mosher archive

His work is archived at Stanford University and can be accessed via their website. Anyone interested in further pursuing his work can arrange to have it brought to the Stanford Green Library.


See also

* Soteria *
Schizophrenia Bulletin ''Schizophrenia Bulletin'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal which covers research relating to the etiology and treatment of schizophrenia. The journal is published bimonthly by Oxford University Press in association with the Maryland Psychiatri ...
*
John Read (psychologist) John Read is a psychologist and mental health researcher from England. He is professor of clinical psychology in the University of East London's School of Psychology. Career Read was formerly a clinical psychologist in the Department of Psycho ...


References


Some research papers

* * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* *
Video
of Robert Whitaker and Loren Mosher discussing the evidence for the Soteria model. * * Volkmar Aderhold, Peter Stastny & Peter Lehmann (2007). Soteria: An Alternative Mental Health Reform Movement (In honor of Loren R. Mosher). I
Peter Stastny & Peter Lehmann (Eds.), ''Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry''
(pp. 146–160). Berlin / Eugene / Shrewsbury: Peter Lehmann Publishing. (UK), (USA). {{DEFAULTSORT:Mosher, Loren 1933 births 2004 deaths People from Monterey, California Stanford University alumni Harvard Medical School alumni American psychiatrists Phenomenologists Anti-psychiatry activists University of California faculty Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences faculty Psychiatry academics