John Rickman, Wilfred Ruprecht Bion, and the origins of the therapeutic community

The history of psychiatric therapeutic communities is complex and obscure. Nevertheless, one can make a reasonable case for saying that the first true therapeutic community was created at Northfield Military Hospital, Birmingham, England, in 1945. That community had its origins in the thought and practice of two British psychoanalysts, John Rickman and Wilfred Ruprecht Bion. Accordingly, in the present article their careers and the social and intellectual influences bearing on them are discussed. The article then continues by describing Rickman's work as a military psychiatrist, Bion's prototype of a therapeutic community, and the therapeutic community that was eventually created at Northfield. It is hoped that the article will provide some of the groundwork for an adequate history of the therapeutic community.     

Dr. John Rittmeister - neurologist and resistance fighter]

He was born in Hamburg on 21st August 1898 and beheaded in the Pl?tzensee penitentiary on 13th May 1943. Our colleague was a personality combining professional striving and political commitment into a dialectic unity. The more important biographic data are given, the co-operation in the Schulze-Boysen-Harnack organisation is described as far as it has become known, and Rittmeister's scientific works are mentioned.     

The Dr. John Hall story: a case study in putative “Haunted People Syndrome”

ABSTRACT

Research suggests a “Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S)” defined by recurrent and systematic perceptions of anomalous subjective and objective anomalies. Such signs or symptoms are traditionally attributed to “spirits and the supernatural,” but these themes are hypothesised to morph to “surveillance and stalking” in reports of “group-(or gang) stalking,” We tested this premise with a quali-quantitative exercise that mapped group-stalking experiences from a published first-hand account to a Rasch measure of haunt-type anomalies. This comparison found significant agreement in the specific “signs or symptoms” of both phenomena. Meta-patterns likewise showed clear conceptual similarities between the phenomenology of haunts and group-stalking. Findings are consistent with the idea that both anomalous episodes involve the same, or similar, attentional or perceptual processes and thereby support the viability of the HP-S construct.     

Dr. Richardson

Pastoral Psychology -