Salman Akhtar (born 31 July 1946)
is an Indian-American
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...
practicing in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. He is an author and Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at
Jefferson Medical College
Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. The university is ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
Early life
Salman Akhtar was born in
Khairabad, Uttar Pradesh to
Jan Nisar Akhtar, a Bollywood film songwriter and
Urdu poet, and Safia Akhtar, a teacher and writer. His grandfather,
Muztar Khairabadi, was a poet while his great great grandfather,
Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, was a scholar of Islamic studies and theology and played an important role in the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
. He is the brother of veteran poet and film lyricist
Javed Akhtar
Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...
and brother-in-law of actress and social activist
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...
. His son
Kabir Akhtar is an American television director and
Emmy-nominated editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
. His daughter
Nishat Akhtar is an artist and a graphic designer.
Education and career
After receiving his M.B.B.S. degree at
Aligarh Muslim University's Medical School (JNMC) in India, Salman Akhtar did his internship at Maulana Azad Medical College of the University of Delhi in India. He completed post-graduate medical education in psychiatry at
PGIMER Chandigarh under renowned Psychiatrist
N. N. Wig. During this time, he wrote a famous article "A phenomenological analysis of symptoms in obsessive-compulsive neurosis".
[Akhtar, S., Wig, N., Varma, V., Pcrshad, D., & Verma, S. (1975). A Phenomenological Analysis of Symptoms in Obsessive-Compulsive Neurosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127(4), 342-348. doi:10.1192/bjp.127.4.342] He moved to the United States in 1973 and repeated his psychiatric training at the University of Virginia Medical Center in 1976. He obtained psychoanalytic training from the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Institute in 1986.
Currently, he is Professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at Jefferson Medical College and psychiatrist an at the Jefferson University Hospital as well as a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He has served on the editorial boards of the ''
International Journal of Psychoanalysis'' and the ''Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association''. Salman Akhtar has authored, edited, or co-edited more than 300 publications, including 100 academic books. He has also served as the Film Review Editor for the ''International Journal of Psychoanalysis'', and is currently serving as the Book Review Editor for the ''International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies''. He also has published seven collections of poetry and serves as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Inter-Act Theatre Company in Philadelphia.
Selected publications
* Akhtar, S. (1999). ''Immigration and Identity''. Jason Aronson.
* Akhtar, S. (2007). ''Listening to Others''. Jason Aronson.
* Akhtar, S. (2009). ''Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis''. Routledge.
* Akhtar, S. (2012). ''Psychoanalytic Listening''. Routledge.
* Akhtar, S. (2014). ''Source of Suffering''. Routledge.
* Akhtar, S. (2021). ''Tales of Transformation: A Life in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis''. Phoenix Publishing House.
* Akhtar, S. (2022). ''In Leaps and Bounds: Psychic Development and its Facilitation in Treatment''. Phoenix Publishing House.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhtar, Salman
1946 births
Indian emigrants to the United States
American psychiatrists
20th-century American poets
Aligarh Muslim University alumni
Scientists from Lucknow
Living people
American health professionals of Indian descent
American academics of Indian descent
Indian scholars