Psychiatry

K urt Glaser, a retired former associate professor of pediatrics and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and former director of adolescent services at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville, died Nov. 13 of pancreatic cancer at the Fairhaven retirement community in Sykesville. The former Pikesville resident, who had lived at the retirement community since 1993, was 94. Dr. Glaser, the son of a merchant and a homemaker, was born in Vienna, Austria, and raised in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was a graduate of the Bundesreal Gymnasium.

Dr. Michael Victor Edelstein, whose career at Sheppard Pratt Health System spanned nearly 30 years and whose hobbies were auto repair and listening to gospel music, died of a heart attack Monday at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Cockeysville resident was 66. Dr. Edelstein was on his way to work Monday morning when he was stricken. He was taken by medics to St. Joseph Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. "I've know Michael since I came to Sheppard Pratt in 1986, and he was one of the most remarkable doctors I've ever worked with," said Dr. Steve Sharfstein, Sheppard Pratt Health System president.

Dr. Jose D. Arana, a professor of psychiatry who studied mentally ill homeless people, died suddenly Sunday while visiting his native Lima, Peru. He was 52 and lived in Lutherville.Services for Dr. Arana were incomplete."Dr. Arana was a wonderful man and one of the hardest working persons I have ever known," said Dr. John A. Talbott, chairman of the University of Maryland Department of Psychiatry. "He was well loved as a teacher and was a nationally recognized leader in his field."Dr. Arana was an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he had worked since gaining a residency in psychiatry there in 1969.

Dr. James Patrick Connaughton, a psychiatrist who was the founder and first director of what became the Johns Hopkins Children and Adolescent Mental Health Center, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at his Cloisters home in the Woodbrook neighborhood of Baltimore County. He was 80. The son of a government worker and a shopkeeper, Dr. Connaughton was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. After graduating from Rockwell College, a Tipperary boarding school, he entered University College in Dublin, where he earned his medical degree in 1956.

Dr. Jerome D. Frank, a retired John Hopkins professor of psychiatry who was widely known as an early and outspoken critic of nuclear weapons, died yesterday of complications from dementia at Roland Park Place, his home for the past nine years. He was 95. A New York City native educated at Harvard University and its medical school, Dr. Frank came to the Hopkins in 1940 as a junior assistant resident to study under Dr. Adolf Meyer, founder of its department of psychiatry. After several years, he became an Army psychiatrist and served with Hopkins physicians in the Pacific -- an experience that gave him insight into the psychological effects of war on the health and well-being of soldiers.

Dr. Russell R. Monroe, former chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who explored the relationship between madness and genius as well as raging electrical storms deep in the brain that trigger violence, died of pneumonia April 4 at his home in San Francisco. He was 82. "Russ was a scholar who was dedicated to the advancement of our knowledge of psychiatric illnesses," said Dr. Eugene B. Brody, former chairman of the UM psychiatry department, who was succeeded by Dr. Monroe in 1976.

Dr. Eugene Bloor Brody, a globally known mental health figure who had been chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and later was dean for social and behavioral studies, died Saturday of renal failure at his Cross Keys home. He was 88. "Whenever I went to international meetings, whether in Egypt or Europe or elsewhere, people were always coming up to me and asking, 'Do you know Dr. Brody?' His work and his writing made him an international star in psychiatry," said Dr. Steven Sharfstein, a psychiatrist who is president and CEO of the Shepherd Pratt Health System and vice chairman of psychiatry at the University of Maryland medical school.

Dr. Frank J. Ayd Jr., a Baltimore psychiatrist who pioneered the field of psychopharmacology when he began treating schizophrenics with Thorazine in the early 1950s, died in his sleep Monday at Lorien Mays Chapel Health Care Center. He was 87. At a time when the psychiatric establishment rejected the notion that mental illness was rooted in biology, Dr. Ayd championed the use of medications to adjust brain chemistry and, in so doing, relieve a patient's suffering. "He was a biological psychiatrist, one of the important kinds of people who in spite of - and against - the establishment had the guts to stand up and really do things," said Dr. Thomas Ban, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

From the pompous Dr. Leo Marvin portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss in "What About Bob?" to the suave but murderous Dr. Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs," psychiatrists on film suffered from an image problem in 1991. Not the least of the notable doctors is Dr. Susan Lowenstein, the psychiatrist played by Barbra Streisand in "The Prince of Tides."In the film, based on a Pat Conroy novel, Dr. Lowenstein becomes romantically involved with Tom Wingo (Nick Nolte), a Southerner who comes to New York after his sister, Savannah (Melinda Dillon)

China has been using psychiatry to punish its dissidents -- a shocking revelation. While the punitive resourcefulness of police states is hardly news, this recent report rocked the psychiatry profession, triggering cries for global censure and fears that the entire discipline would be "tarnished." The irony is that psychiatry has always been oppressive -- even in the allegedly enlightened West -- given its imperious mandate to judge, manipulate and medicate what it decrees as undesirable behavior, and its sacrosanct power to lock up those who violate its norms.

Dr. Betty W. Robinson, a psychiatrist who had been director of inpatient services at the Walter P. Carter Center in downtown Baltimore and an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, died June 19 of cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The longtime Stoneleigh resident was 84. The daughter of a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad office worker and a bookkeeper, Betty Lee Wilmas was born and raised in St. Louis, where she graduated in 1944 from Wills High School.

Dr. John "Jack" Mannen Arthur, the first mental health consultant to be appointed by the Baltimore County public schools, died Feb. 7 at his home in Roland Park. He was 94. He was born in Kansas City, Kan., in 1916 to Matilda Streuning and John Mannen Arthur Jr., an executive at Kansas City Power and Light. Dr. Arthur studied at the University of Kansas, Lawrence and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, from which he graduated in 1943. Annette Arthur, Dr. Arthur's second wife, said he began his career in psychiatry after his father was saved from a nervous breakdown by a psychiatrist.

Dr. James Jaquet Gibbs, a retired Sheppard Pratt psychiatrist who founded its children's and adolescents' program, died of a stroke Sunday at Franklin Square Hospital Center. He was 86 and lived in Oakcrest Village in Parkville. Born and raised in Naperville, Ill., he was a graduate of Naperville High School. During World War II, he was assigned by the Army to take courses at Texas Agriculture and Mining University, Stanford University and Grinnell College. He earned a medical degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.

Shirley F. Sohmer, who began her career as a staff nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital, helped develop the department of neurology and nursing service, and later became a senior nursing administrator, died March 13 of cardiac failure at Seasons Hospice at Northwest Hospital Center. Mrs. Sohmer, who was a resident of Emeritus at Pikesville, an assisted-living facility, was 79. Shirley Friedman was born in Baltimore and raised on Bryant Avenue, the daughter of Russian immigrant parents - her father was a tailor and her mother was a homemaker.

Dr. Eugene Bloor Brody, a globally known mental health figure who had been chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and later was dean for social and behavioral studies, died Saturday of renal failure at his Cross Keys home. He was 88. "Whenever I went to international meetings, whether in Egypt or Europe or elsewhere, people were always coming up to me and asking, 'Do you know Dr. Brody?' His work and his writing made him an international star in psychiatry," said Dr. Steven Sharfstein, a psychiatrist who is president and CEO of the Shepherd Pratt Health System and vice chairman of psychiatry at the University of Maryland medical school.