Norman Kreitman (5 July 1927 – 15 December 2012) was a psychiatric researcher and academic, based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, primarily known for coining the term

parasuicide A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is ...

. He was also a published poet of some distinction, and wrote perceptively on the philosophy of art - in particular, on the psychology of metaphor. Kreitman was born in London. He received his medical training at

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 ...

, graduating in 1949, and worked at a tuberculosis hospital on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

before going into

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. ...

. After training at the

Maudsley hospital The Maudsley Hospital is a British psychiatric hospital in south London. The Maudsley is the largest mental health training institution in the UK. It is part of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and works in partnership with the I ...

, he moved to Edinburgh in 1966. In Edinburgh, he was Director of the Medical Research Council Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry.

Works

Psychiatry

* Methods of Psychiatric Research. Edited by Peter Sainsbury and Norman Kreitman. OUP. (1963) * Current Research on Suicide and Parasuicide. (with S D Platt). Wiley. (1988)

Poetry

*''Touching Rock'' (1987) *''Against Leviathan'' (1989) *''Casanova's 72nd Birthday'' (2003) *''Dancing in the Dark: New and Selected Poems'' (2010)

References

*. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kreitman, Norman 1927 births 2012 deaths History of mental health in the United Kingdom Scottish psychiatrists