Reginald Spencer Ellery (1897–1955), was a pioneer in the practice 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. ...

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

. He was also noted as an autobiographer, memoirist, communist, and poet. Under J. K. Adey's supervision at Sunbury, Ellery developed a greater understanding of psychiatry; together they were responsible in 1925 for the first successful application in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

of Wagner-Jauregg's malarial-fever treatment for general paralysis of the insane. A member of the British Psychological Society, from 1938 Ellery allied himself with a group of progressive psychiatrists led by Dr Paul Dane. In establishing the Melbourne Institute for Psycho-Analysis in October 1940, the group encountered opposition from both the Federal government and the local branch of the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...

. Although he never became a party member, Ellery was attracted to

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. During the early 1940s he published several pamphlets and books which prescribed communism as a

panacea In Greek mythology and religion, Panacea (Greek ''Πανάκεια'', Panakeia), a goddess of universal remedy, was the daughter of Asclepius and Epione. Mythology Panacea and her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo's art: * Panac ...

for mental and social ills. From the start of his career when he reluctantly became a medical officer at

Kew Asylum Kew Lunatic Asylum is a decommissioned heritage-listed psychiatric hospital located between Princess Street and Yarra Boulevard in Kew, Victoria, Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Operational from 1871 to 1988, Kew Asylum was one of the lar ...

in 1923, Ellery had a progressive and provocative approach to his career. The following year, he became the subject of a Royal Commission into claims of misconduct and cruelty to patients, from which he was exonerated. When he went to Sunbury Asylum, he introduced malariotherapy, the first successful treatment, in Australia in 1925. He later had a leading role in biological therapies, such as insulin coma and convulsive therapy. Throughout his career, he continued to lobby for the rights of psychiatric patients, socialised medicine and for a more progressive understanding of the psychological nature of crime. In regard to the latter, he went public a number of times to say that he considered all judges biased. He was involved in a number of criminal cases as a specialist psychiatric witness, most notably that of Arnold Sodeman. Despite Ellery's finding that he was not guilty due to insanity, Sodeman was hanged. Ellery associated with members of the Heide set, influencing artists such as

Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of the leading Australian artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of media, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

and Albert Tucker. He wrote articles for the

Angry Penguins ''Angry Penguins'' was an art and literary magazine established in 1940 by surrealist poet Max Harris. Originally based in Adelaide, the magazine moved to Melbourne in 1942 once Harris joined the Heide Circle, a group of modernist painters and w ...

journal and spoke for the defence of Max Harris at the Ern Malley pornography trial.

Works

* The Cow Jumped Over the Moon (1956), (autobiography) * Psychological Aspects of Modern Warfare (1945), published by John Reed and Max Harris. * Eyes Left! - Book-pamphlet on the Soviet Union and the Post-War World. *Schizophrenia, The Cinderella of Psychiatry. - Re-publication of a successful discussion of a major illness.

External links

* http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140102b.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellery, Reginald Spencer 1897 births 1955 deaths Writers from Melbourne Psychiatrists from Melbourne