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| George Makari | |
|---|---|
| Name | George Makari |
| Birth date | 20th century |
| Birth place | United States |
| Occupation | Historian, psychiatrist, author |
| Known for | History of psychiatry, intellectual history of psychoanalysis |
| Notable works | The Soul Machine; Revolution in Mind |
George Makari is an American historian, psychiatrist, and author known for his scholarship on the history of psychiatry and the intellectual history of psychoanalysis. He has held academic appointments and contributed to both scholarly and popular understandings of psychiatric ideas through books, edited volumes, and articles. Makari's work bridges the history of medicine, intellectual history, and clinical practice, engaging figures and institutions across the modern history of mental health.
Makari received his undergraduate education and advanced degrees in settings that combined humanities and clinical training. He completed medical training and psychiatric residency in institutions associated with major centers of medical education, linking clinical practice with historical inquiry. His doctoral and postgraduate work involved engagement with archives, correspondence, and primary sources related to figures in psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Throughout his education he interacted with scholars and clinicians from institutions such as Columbia University, Harvard University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, and University College London, situating his scholarship within transatlantic conversations about mental health.
Makari has held faculty and research positions in departments and centers that connect psychiatry, history, and humanities. He has served in roles at medical schools and university departments affiliated with institutions like Mount Sinai Health System, Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York University School of Medicine, and research centers associated with The Rockefeller University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. His professional career spans clinical psychiatry, historical research, editorial work, and public scholarship, collaborating with historians, clinicians, and curators from institutions including the Wellcome Trust, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Makari has participated in conferences and seminars hosted by organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the International Psychoanalytical Association, the History of Science Society, and the Society for the History of Technology. He has been a visiting scholar and lecturer at institutions like Harvard Medical School, Princeton University, Stanford University, and University of Oxford, contributing to curricular and public history initiatives.
Makari is author and editor of several influential books and essays that examine the development of psychiatric ideas and psychoanalytic thought. His major publications include monographs and edited volumes published by academic and trade presses associated with Basic Books, HarperCollins, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and university presses connected to Columbia University Press and Yale University Press. He has also contributed chapters and articles to edited collections and journals such as the American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, History of Psychiatry, The Lancet Psychiatry, and The British Journal of Psychiatry.
His major monographs explore biographies, intellectual movements, and institutional histories linked to figures like Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Reich, Eugen Bleuler, Emil Kraepelin, Franz Alexander, Karl Jaspers, and institutions such as the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the Chicago School of Psychiatry. Makari's edited collections have brought together essays on psychoanalysis, neurology, and psychiatric classification, engaging debates that involve the World Health Organization and the evolution of diagnostic manuals like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Makari's scholarship has reshaped understandings of the modern roots of psychiatric thought by situating psychoanalysis and psychiatric classification within broader intellectual and institutional contexts. He has reexamined canonical narratives about figures like Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich, reconsidered the roles of clinicians such as Adolf Meyer and Henry Phipps, and traced transnational exchanges among centers in Vienna, Berlin, London, Paris, and New York City. His work engages cross-disciplinary sources including correspondence archived at institutions like the Library of Congress, the Wellcome Library, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Makari has highlighted intersections between psychiatric theory and cultural movements, linking psychiatric debates to events such as the First World War, the Second World War, the rise of Nazism, and postwar social reforms. He has critiqued simplistic dichotomies between biological psychiatry and psychoanalysis by analyzing figures like Emil Kraepelin, Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, and Donald Winnicott in relation to laboratories, clinics, and policy-making bodies including the National Institute of Mental Health and national health systems. His public-facing essays have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The New Republic, bringing historical perspective to contemporary psychiatric debates.
Makari's work has been recognized with fellowships, grants, and prizes from foundations and institutions such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and university-based awards. He has received honors from scholarly societies including the History of Science Society and the American Historical Association and has been elected to panels and editorial boards for journals like the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences and History of Psychiatry.
Makari maintains ties to clinical practice while engaging in historical research and public scholarship. He collaborates with clinicians, curators, and historians from institutions such as the American Psychoanalytic Association, the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and the Mütter Museum to curate exhibitions and interdisciplinary events. His work continues to influence teaching and public conversation at universities, museums, and policy forums including Columbia University, Barnard College, and cultural venues in New York City.
Category:Historians of psychiatry Category:American psychiatrists