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'''E. Fuller Torrey''', M.D. (b. ], ], ]), is a controversial] ] and noted ] researcher. He is Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute. Torrey is considered by some as perhaps the United States' premier psychiatrist. '''E. Fuller Torrey''', M.D. (b. ], ], ]), is an ] ] and ] researcher. He is Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute. Torrey is considered by some as perhaps the United States' premier psychiatrist.


Torrey is president of the board of the ] (TAC), which focuses on the treatment of individuals considered so disabled by serious ] (e.g., ] and/or ] disorder) that they may be unable to recognize their need for treatment. Dr. Torrey’s sister, Rhoda, has schizophrenia. Torrey has written a best-selling book on Schizophrenia, ''Surviving Schizophrenia''. Torrey is president of the board of the ] (TAC), "a national nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating legal and clinical barriers to forced treatment of severe mental illnesses." Dr. Torrey’s sister, Rhoda, has schizophrenia. Torrey has written a best-selling book on schizophrenia, ''Surviving Schizophrenia''.


Dr. Torrey stands in opposition to the ] views of ], a ] psychiatrist who asserts ] is a ], and the late ], a ] psychiatrist who suggested schizophrenia may offer a chance to grow, as well as ] and critics of the ] industry. Dr. Torrey stands in opposition to the ] views of ], a ] psychiatrist who asserts ] is a ], and the late ], a ] psychiatrist who suggested schizophrenia may offer a chance to grow, as well as survivors of involuntary psychiatric treatment, ] advocates, many ], critics of the ] industry and Scientologists.


==Education and early career== ==Education and early career==
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==The Stanley Medical Research Institute== ==The Stanley Medical Research Institute==


Torrey is the Associate Director for Laboratory Research of ], the largest private provider of research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the ]. SMRI also maintains a collection of postmortem ] tissue from individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major ] and from unaffected controls, which are made available to researchers without charge. The institute has been sued for taking brains for use in research without families' consent; one lawsuit was settled out of court. Torrey is the Associate Director for Laboratory Research of ], the largest private provider of research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the ]. SMRI also maintains a collection of postmortem ] tissue from individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major ] and from unaffected controls, which are made available to researchers without charge. The institute has been sued for taking brains for use in research without families' consent and several of these lawsuits have settled out of court.


==The Treatment Advocacy Center== ==The Treatment Advocacy Center==


Torrey is a founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national non-profit organization that support outpatient committment laws. TAC was credited by ] State Attorney General ] and others with helping pass ] in the state. Kendra's Law allows court-ordered involuntary treatment of people diagnosed with schizophrenia or other severe mental illness who have a history of violence and noncompliance. Previously, police and families had to wait for an individual to become violent before they were allowed to treat them involuntarily, if they were noncompliant. TAC's efforts to pass Kendra's Law led to similar successful passage of ] in California, and similar laws in Florida and elsewhere. He has testified numerous times in front of Congress. Torrey is a founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national non-profit organization that support outpatient commitment laws, where patients are released from psychiatric hospitals on restrictive conditions such as taking medication, reporting to psychiatric appointments, etc. TAC was credited by ] State Attorney General ] and others with helping pass ] in the state. Kendra's Law allows court-ordered involuntary treatment of people diagnosed with schizophrenia or other severe mental illness who have a history of noncompliance. Previously, police and families could only force treatment if a non-compliant individual became violent. TAC's efforts to pass Kendra's Law led to similar successful passage of ] in California, and similar laws in Florida and elsewhere. He has testified numerous times in front of Congress.


==NAMI== ==NAMI==


Torrey was for many years an active advisor and advocate for the ] (NAMI). Torrey was for many years an active advisor for the ] (NAMI). Torrey, the Treatment Advocacy Center, and NAMI remain closely aligned.


==Cat research== ==Cat research==
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==Critics== ==Critics==


Torrey's critics take issue with a variety of his assumptions about the efficacy and propriety of involuntary drg treatment. Although there are some who believe mental illness is a 'myth' (i.e., the mind is not a physical entity, per se, therefore it cannot be diseased), other critics believe commonly prescribed neuroleptic drugs, alleged to 'correct ],' actually cause irreparable and often severe brain damage, and that forced treatment abridges the ] of individuals who may or may not pose a danger to themselves or the community. Torrey's critics take issue with a variety of his assumptions about the efficacy and propriety of involuntary drug treatment. Although there are some who believe mental illness is a "myth" (i.e., the mind is not a physical entity, per se, therefore it cannot be diseased), other critics believe commonly prescribed neuroleptic drugs, to correct ], actually cause irreparable and often severe brain damage, and that forced treatment abridges the ] of individuals who may or may not pose a danger to themselves or the community.
When Torrey first became a psychiatrist, it was commonly thought schizophrenia was caused by 'bad parenting'. The fact he had a sister with schizophrenia led him to understand evidence was poor for this theory. As a result of research by Torrey and others, it is now commonly accepted that schizophrenia is a biologically based illness. When Torrey first became a psychiatrist, it was commonly thought schizophrenia was caused by "bad parenting." The fact he had a sister with schizophrenia led him to understand evidence was poor for this theory. As a result of research by Torrey and others, it is now commonly accepted that schizophrenia is a biologically based illness.


==Recognition== ==Recognition==

Revision as of 02:03, 18 November 2005

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. (b. 1937, Utica, New York), is an American psychiatrist and schizophrenia researcher. He is Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute. Torrey is considered by some as perhaps the United States' premier psychiatrist.

Torrey is president of the board of the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), "a national nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating legal and clinical barriers to forced treatment of severe mental illnesses." Dr. Torrey’s sister, Rhoda, has schizophrenia. Torrey has written a best-selling book on schizophrenia, Surviving Schizophrenia.

Dr. Torrey stands in opposition to the anti-psychiatry views of Thomas Szasz, a libertarian psychiatrist who asserts mental illness is a myth, and the late R. D. Laing, a British psychiatrist who suggested schizophrenia may offer a chance to grow, as well as survivors of involuntary psychiatric treatment, anti-psychiatry advocates, many civil libertarians, critics of the pharmaceutical industry and Scientologists.

Education and early career

Torrey earned his bachelor's degree, Magna Cum Laude, from Princeton University, and his medical doctor's degree from the McGill University School of Medicine. Torrey has also earned a master's degree in anthropology from Stanford University, and was trained in psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. He practiced general medicine in Ethiopia for two years as a Peace Corps physician, in the South Bronx, and in Alaska in the Indian Health Service. From 1970 to 1975, he was a special assistant to the NIMH director.

The Stanley Medical Research Institute

Torrey is the Associate Director for Laboratory Research of The Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI), the largest private provider of research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the United States. SMRI also maintains a collection of postmortem brain tissue from individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression and from unaffected controls, which are made available to researchers without charge. The institute has been sued for taking brains for use in research without families' consent and several of these lawsuits have settled out of court.

The Treatment Advocacy Center

Torrey is a founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national non-profit organization that support outpatient commitment laws, where patients are released from psychiatric hospitals on restrictive conditions such as taking medication, reporting to psychiatric appointments, etc. TAC was credited by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and others with helping pass Kendra's Law in the state. Kendra's Law allows court-ordered involuntary treatment of people diagnosed with schizophrenia or other severe mental illness who have a history of noncompliance. Previously, police and families could only force treatment if a non-compliant individual became violent. TAC's efforts to pass Kendra's Law led to similar successful passage of Laura's Law in California, and similar laws in Florida and elsewhere. He has testified numerous times in front of Congress.

NAMI

Torrey was for many years an active advisor for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). Torrey, the Treatment Advocacy Center, and NAMI remain closely aligned.

Cat research

In searching for a cure for schizophrenia, Torrey has studied whether a parasite in cat droppings causes schizophrenia. He found people with schizophrenia were more likely to have had pet cats as young children or their mothers kept cats during their pregnancies, and is testing antibiotics against the feline parasite Toxoplasma gondii to treat schizophrenia patients. Torrey told the New York Daily News his wife thinks he is going to be killed by cat lovers.

Critics

Torrey's critics take issue with a variety of his assumptions about the efficacy and propriety of involuntary drug treatment. Although there are some who believe mental illness is a "myth" (i.e., the mind is not a physical entity, per se, therefore it cannot be diseased), other critics believe commonly prescribed neuroleptic drugs, to correct chemical imbalances, actually cause irreparable and often severe brain damage, and that forced treatment abridges the civil rights of individuals who may or may not pose a danger to themselves or the community.

When Torrey first became a psychiatrist, it was commonly thought schizophrenia was caused by "bad parenting." The fact he had a sister with schizophrenia led him to understand evidence was poor for this theory. As a result of research by Torrey and others, it is now commonly accepted that schizophrenia is a biologically based illness.

Recognition

Torrey received two Commendation Medals from the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1999, he received a research award from the International Congress of Schizophrenia. In 2005 a tribute to Torrey was included in NAMI's 25th Anniversary Celebratory Donor Wall.

Books

  • 1975, Why did you do that?: Rainy day games for a post-industrial society, Chilton Book Company, ISBN 0801961432
  • 1980, Schizophrenia and Civilization, Jason Aronson Publishers
  • 1983, Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Consumers, and Providers, Harper and Row, ISBN 0060959193
  • 1983, The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeths, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, ISBN 0156790157
  • 1986, The Mind Game: Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, ISBN 0876686897
  • 1986, Care of the Seriously Mentally Ill: A Rating of State Programs, with Sidney M. Wolfe and Laurie Flynn, ISBN 9991796223
  • 1988, Nowhere to Go: The Tragic Odyssey of the Homeless Mentally Ill, Harper Collins, ISBN 0060159936
  • 1992, Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill: The Abuse of Jails As Mental Hospitals (senior author/editor), ISBN 0788142798
  • 1992, Freudian Fraud: The Malignant Effect of Freud's Theory on American Thought and Culture, Harper Collins, ISBN 1929636008
  • 1994, Schizophrenia and Manic-Depressive Disorder: The Biological Roots of Mental Illness as Revealed by a Landmark Study of Identical Twins (senior author), with Irving I. Gottesman, Edward H. Taylor, Ann E. Bowler, Perseus Books Group
  • 1996, Out of the Shadows: Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0471245321
  • 2002, Surviving Manic-Depressive Illness, Basic Books, ISBN 0465086632
  • 2002, The Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the Present, with Judy Miller, Rutgers University Press; ISBN 0813530032
  • 2005, Beasts of the Earth : Animals, Humans, and Disease, with Robert H. Yolken, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 0813535719
  • Ethical Issues in Medicine
  • Frontier Justice: The Rise and Fall of the Loomis Gang, North Country Books Inc, ISBN 0932052916
  • Ride with the Loomis Gang
  • Surviving Manic Depression : A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families and Providers, with Michael B. Knable, Basic Books, ISBN 0465086640
  • Surviving Schizophrenia for the Lay Reader, Harpercollins Publishers, ISBN 0060912170
  • Schizophrenia and Manic-Depressive Disorder: The Biological Roots of Mental Illness as Revealed by the Landmark Study of Identical Twins, Group, ISBN 0465072852
  • The Death of Psychiatry
  • Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists: The Common Roots of Psychotherapy and Its Future (revised edition of The Mind Game), Harper Collins, ISBN 0060970243

See Also

External Links

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