Myron Russcol Sharaf (July 7, 1926 – May 13, 1997) was an American writer and
psychotherapist
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
. He was a lecturer in
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.
...
at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
, the director of the Center for Sociopsychological Research and Education at
Boston State Hospital, and assistant clinical professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at
Tufts University School of Medicine
The Tufts University School of Medicine is the medical school of Tufts University, a Private university, private research university in Massachusetts. It was established in 1893 and is located on the university's health sciences campus in down ...
.
Sharaf was a student, patient, and colleague of
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich ( ; ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several in ...
's from 1948 to 1954, and the author of what is widely regarded as the definitive biography of Reich, ''Fury On Earth'' (1983). He died of a heart attack in Berlin in 1997, after addressing a conference in Vienna marking Reich's centennial.
[Saxon, Wolfgang]
"Myron Sharaf, student, biographer and interpreter of Wilhelm Reich, at 70"
''New York Times'', May 24, 1997.
*For details of the Ph.D., see Sharaf, Myron. ''Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich''. Da Capo Press, 1994, p. 30 (first published 1983).
Sharaf 1994, p. 30.
Early life and education
Sharaf was born in Miami, but grew up in
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...
, the son of Nathan Sharaf and Anne Russcol Sharaf. His father founded the Steaming Kettle Coffee Shop chain. His paternal great-grandparents, originally named "Sharafsky", were
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
emigrants from the Russian Empire. He obtained his first degree in psychology from
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
in 1949, an M.Ed. from
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
in 1953, and a Ph.D. in psychology and education 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 ...
in 1960.
[
]
''Fury on Earth''
A ''New York Times'' review of ''Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich'' describes Sharaf as "intimate for more than 10 years as student, disciple, patient and colleague" of Reich. Paul Roazen
Paul Roazen (August 14, 1936, Boston – November 3, 2005) was an American political scientist who became a preeminent historian of psychoanalysis.
Life
Roazen received his A.B. at Harvard University in 1958. He then studied at the University of C ...
wrote in ''The Psychoanalytic Review'', "Myron Sharaf's ''Fury on Earth'' is far and away the finest book both on Reich's work and his life. It is a work of scholarship that may well, until the Reich Archives are finally opened, remain definitive on the subject."[Roazen, P. (1985)]
"Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich"
''Psychoanal. Rev''., 72:668-671.
Bibliography
*
*with Milton Greenblatt.
*with Milton Greenblatt and Evelyn M. Stone.
*
See also
* ''Life Against Death
''Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History'' (1959; second edition 1985) is a book by the American classicist Norman O. Brown, in which the author offers a radical analysis and critique of the work of Sigmund Freud, tries to pr ...
''
Notes
Further reading
*Reich, Robbie
"Ode to a Therapist"
extract from ''Breathe''; also published in the ''Journal of Family Life'', Volume 3/4, 1997.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharaf, Myron
1926 births
1997 deaths
American non-fiction writers
Harvard College alumni
American psychotherapists
Body psychotherapy
Boston State Hospital physicians
Orgonomy
Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni
American medical researchers
20th-century American writers
People from Newton, Massachusetts
20th-century American Jews
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American psychologists