Adolf Meyer (1866-1950)

Professional Life
Adolf Meyer was born on September 13, 1866 near Zurich, Switzerland. He studied with several neuropathologists before he earned his degree from the University of Zurich. He moved to America in 1892 and began his professional career at the University of Chicago, where he taught and practiced neurology. Meyer worked at several mental hospitals, including one in Worcester, Massachusetts, and one in Kankakee, Illinois. He was invited to head New York State’s Pathological Institute in 1902, and he was directly responsible for the direction the institute took through his emphasis on patient records and his integration of Freud’s theories, specifically his theories on early childhood influence and sexuality.

Meyer also served as a professor at Cornell University and Johns Hopkins University and even acted as director of the psychiatric clinic, the Henry Phipps facility, while at Johns Hopkins. The clinic was the first inpatient hospital in the United States for people with mental illness. Under Meyer’s tutelage, Leo Kanner expanded the clinic to include the creation of the first facility to serve the needs of pediatric psychiatric patients. Meyer published no books, but wrote many articles and mentored several prominent psychiatrists and psychologists. He also served as President of the American Psychiatric Association for a period of time.

Contribution to Psychology
Meyer is best known for his approach of psychobiology, a method of categorizing and documenting all factors relating to a patient, including psychological, social, and biological. He emphasized research and focused on details. The past histories of his patients were of critical importance to him and he believed that psychological dysfunction was a direct result of a dysfunction in personality, not pathology. He insisted on approaching mental illness from a scientific standpoint, even considering the source of psychological impairment could be infection. He stressed the necessity to gather details about every condition in a patient’s life, from experience to emotion. His beliefs eventually conflicted with some of Freud’s teachings, and although his theories were not embraced wholly by the psychiatric community, his practice of gathering detailed accounts of patients influenced the treatment process significantly.

Meyer is also known for advocating for occupational therapy. Meyer claimed that an individual’s mental health and activity was directly related to their physical health and activity and this link necessitated that clinicians address both when dealing with patients. He coined the term “mental hygiene” as a name for a movement he envisioned, in which people could learn valuable coping skills through community outreach programs. Although his name is not as recognized as many of his peers’, Meyer is considered one of the most influential psychologists of his time.