Practicing mind-body medicine before Freud

"John G. Gehring, the "Wizard of the Androscoggin

Bibliographic Data

ID4874283
AuthorsBen Harri (0000-0001-6895-7229, University of New Hampshire, corresponding author), Ben Harris (0000-0001-7840-2825, Department of Psychology University of New Hampshire Durham NH), Courtney J Stevens (0000-0002-5696-4904, Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth Dartmouth‐Hitchcock Medical Center, One Medical Center Drive Lebanon NH)
Year2020
Volume56
Issue2
Pages75-98
Publication date2020-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-5061 • E-ISSN: 1520-6696
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/jhbs.22012
PMID31612511
OpenAlexW2980327029
LanguageEN
References cited24

This article describes the psychotherapy practice of physician John G. Gehring and places it in historical context. Forgotten today, Gehring was a highly sought-after therapist from the 1890s to the 1920s by prominent figures in the arts, sciences, business, and law. He practiced a combination of work therapy, suggestion, and autosuggestion that has similarities to Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Behavioral Activation. Using biographies, memoirs, and archival records, the details of Gehring's work are reconstructed and the reasons for its success are analyzed. His invisibility in the history of psychiatry is attributed to the later dominance of Freudianism within the field

Archaeology · Art · Art history · Context (archaeology) · Dominance (genetics) · Memoir · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Wizard · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Chemistry · Computer Science · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · History · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

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