Eric Ledermann

German naturopath and psychiatrist

Eric Ledermann

Born	16 May 1908 Berlin
Died	7 May 2005 London
Occupation	Psychiatrist

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

Biography

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 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

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

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Dr Eric Ledermann". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
^ ^a ^b Kaplan, Brian (2005). "Eric Karl Ledermann". Homeopathy. 94 (4): 268–269. doi:10.1016/j.homp.2005.08.014. S2CID 257208048.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Sturgeon D, Sturgeon E. (2005). "Eric Kurt Ledermann". BMJ. 331 (7514): 458. PMC 1188156.
^ The Medical Register, Part 3. General Medical Council, 2002. p. 2485
^ Writers Directory 1980–82. The Macmillan Press Limited. p. 728. ISBN 978-1-349-03652-3
^ Smith, Colin (1971). "Reviewed Work: Philosophy and Medicine by E. K. Ledermann". Philosophy. 46 (176): 181–182. doi:10.1017/S0031819100017332. JSTOR 3749460. S2CID 170189003.
^ "Erich Kurt Ledermann". wellcomecollection.org. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
^ Stengel, E. (1970). "Reviewed Work: Philosophy And Medicine by E. K. Ledermann". The British Medical Journal. 2 (5709): 591. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5709.591-a. JSTOR 20383973. PMC 1700206. S2CID 220202642.
^ Trethowan, W. H. (1973). "Existential Neurosis by E. K. Ledermann". The British Medical Journal. 4 (5887): 304. doi:10.1136/bmj.4.5887.304-a. JSTOR 25421814. S2CID 220170378.
^ Little, Stephen (1986). "Reviewed Work: Mental Health and Human Conscience: The True and the False Self by E. K. Ledermann". Journal of Medical Ethics. 12 (2): 97–98. doi:10.1136/jme.12.2.97-a. JSTOR 27716480. S2CID 71551108.