Eric Ledermann

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Eric Ledermann
File:Eric Ledermann.png
Born(1908-05-16)16 May 1908
Berlin
Died7 May 2005(2005-05-07) (aged 96)
London
OccupationPsychiatrist

Eric Kurt Ledermann (16 May 1908 – 7 May 2005) MRCS LRCP was a German psychiatrist, homeopath, naturopath and philosopher.

Biography

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Ledermann was born in 1908 to Jewish parents in Berlin.[1] He studied medicine at the University of Freiburg and took interest in philosophical vitalism.[2] He attended a lecture of Alfred Adler and was deeply influenced by his work. He also took influence from Jan Smuts' book Holism and Evolution.[1] In 1932, he obtained his MD from the University of Freiburg.

He fled Nazi Germany in 1933 to become House Physician at Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital.[3] He qualified at L.R.C.P. Edinburgh in 1934.[4] He moved to London in 1935 to start his own medical practice. In 1936, he joined the Nature Cure Clinic where he practiced for over 50 years.[3] He worked at the Children’s Homoeopathic Dispensary in Shepherds Bush for 20 years and joined the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital where he became consultant physician in 1965. He was a psychiatrist at Marlborough Day Hospital.[3]

He married Marjorie Alice Smith on 2 June 1943. From 1948 he worked for the British National Health Service.[5] He was a member of the Faculty of Homoeopathy and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.[2] He was a lifelong vegetarian and exercised regularly.[1] He was an anti-vaccinationist and a Medical Vice President for the National Anti-Vaccination League's The Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review.

Ledermann developed a type of psychotherapy he termed "true-self psychotherapy", which aimed to make "the unconscious conscience conscious".[3] He took a holistic approach to medicine and authored several books on the topic.[1] He opposed the "mechanistic materialism" of orthodox medicine. His holistic medicine was derived from existential and phenomenological philosophy.[6] During his later years Ledermann researched acupuncture and in 2001 received an honorary membership of the Chinese Medical Institute and Register.[7]

Selected publications

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  • Status of Naturopathy (The British Medical Journal, 1951)
  • Natural Therapy: An Exposition of the Scientific and Educational Aspects of Nature Cure (1953)
  • Philosophy and Medicine (1970)[8]
  • Existential Neurosis (1972)[9]
  • Good Health Through Natural Therapy (1977)
  • Ethics in Psychiatry: The Patient's Freedom and Bondage (Journal of Medical Ethics, 1982)
  • Mental Health and Human Conscience (1985)[10]
  • Your Health in Your Hands: A Case for Natural Medicine (1989)
  • Medicine for the Whole Person: A Critique of Scientific Medicine (1997)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Dr Eric Ledermann". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  2. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  4. ^ The Medical Register, Part 3. General Medical Council, 2002. p. 2485
  5. ^ Writers Directory 1980–82. The Macmillan Press Limited. p. 728. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  7. ^ "Erich Kurt Ledermann". wellcomecollection.org. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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