Thomas Adeoye Lambo was among the first African physicians to specialize in the treatment of mental disorders. In the 1950s, he created an innovative community approach to psychiatric treatment.
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Category Archives: History of Psychology
Liberation Psychology in Latin America
What would a practical psychology look like if it put aside scientific detachment in the interests of best serving non–dominant members of out community? We don’t need to speculate. A branch of the profession called liberation psychology in Latin American did just that. Continue Reading
Yeshe Tsogyal, Womanhood and Tibetan Buddhism
Yeshe Tsogyal can rightly be considered a true mother of Tibetan Buddhism. An intriguing eighth century figure shrouded in legend, Continue Reading
Zara Yacob, Early African Philosopher
Zara Yacob (1599-1692) is thought to be the first African philosopher outside of Egypt and North Africa to put his thoughts on paper. Continue Reading
Coping with COVID-19 and the Plague: A Comparison
In my History of Psychology class this spring, we explored parallels between emotional reactions to COVID-19 and the Plague… Continue Reading
Rabindranath Tagore–India’s Montessori and So Much More
Rabindranath Tagore is a key figure in India’s history of psychology, indeed of India itself, even though he was never trained in the field. Born to an high caste Bengali family, Tagore rebelled against conventional thinking. He advocated for India’s independence, the empowerment of its poor and widowed, and the celebration of word and movement.… Continue Reading
Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others (& me in her story)
Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor is a wonderfully readable memoir of a college religion professor discovering spiritual truths in the process of teaching a World Religions course. As a psychology professor striving to incorporate interfaith awareness into a History of Psychology class, I found we had a… Continue Reading
Magnus Hirschfeld and Psychology’s Queer History
Magnus Hirschfeld was not only a pioneering sexologist and advocate for homosexuals, he was also a physician who contributed a great deal to the history of psychology. Among his unique contributions was the creation of the first psychosexual history and a couples counseling clinic for sexual concerns. A German physician, he associated with Freud with… Continue Reading
Hazrat Inayat Khan—A Sufi Psychology
Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927), a Sufi mystic and teacher of the early 20th century, also attempted the first systematic Sufi psychology. Continue Reading
Chen Li & China’s Troubling History of Psychology
It ‘s always helpful to remember that no freedom is guaranteed, and that includes the practice of psychology. There are few better historical examples of how politics can impact the practice of psychology than the story of a Chinese psychologist named Chen Li in the midst of China’s so-called Cultural Revolution. Beginning in 1966, the… Continue Reading
The Sages of Vinegar Hill: Skinner and Kinsey, Neighbors
Imagine Alfred Kinsey, who turned America’s sense of sexuality on its ear, and radical behaviorist B. F. Skinner as next door neighbors. Continue Reading
Ban Zhao: The Intriguing Life of a Female Confucian Scholar
Over two thousand years ago, the principles laid out by by Konfuzi (or Confucius as we know him in the West) clearly specified men’s authority over women. But there were also some Chinese women who were educated and wrote from a Confucian perspective. Ban Zhao (c45-116 CE) was the foremost early female voice in this… Continue Reading
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Baron von Steuben, Washington’s Gay General and Friend
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Conversations with the Serpent
Eating one bad apple isn’t all that happened in that garden.