Lauretta bender biography meaning

There are three handwritten notebooks in German, the first one dated ; the papers in these notebooks have been removed, unfolded, and placed in folders. There are typed and handwritten correspondence and memos in both German and English, from Letters of a professional nature, acknowledging referrals, for example, are grouped chronologically and range from towhile a separate folder contains letters in French, German and Spanish, spanning the years through ; letters to private patients over the years toalso arranged chronologically, are grouped together.

Case histories of some patients, some of which are dated, are arranged in the order of the last name or initial of the patient. Schilder, and then Bender, retained clippings concerning two controversies of the 30s; Schilder's own clashed with Psychoanalytic Societyand the public clashes that raged between Dr. Gregory, chief of the psychiatric hospital at Bellevue, and Dr.

Goldwater, Commissioner of Hospitals, in and This sub-series contains speaking engagement which Bender classified as accepted and completed; they are arranged chronologically. This series also has Schilder's published and unpublished paper retained by Bender, arranged by title. These are in both handwritten and typed form and in both English and German.

There are also a few unidentified pages. Arranged chronologically. Series 11 contains personal photos ranging from ; personal effects, including Schilder's birth certificate and death certificate in addition to general correspondence and a professional paper connected to Schilder's death in December There is a folder of personal letters on the Schilder family including some to Ms.

Bender from Adolf Woltmann, the puppeteer Box 27, File 5. There is also a folder of letters and cables relating to Schilder's death dates mainly from Dec. Some of the clippings on Schilder's death mention the feud between Bender and his first wife. Sub-group V. JOHN O. Contains writings by Dr. Lauretta Bender's father, John O. Bender This series is comprised of Dr.

There is some ephemera, an obituary notice, photographs, as well as correspondence. This series consists of various oversized records from all sub-groups. The oversized boxes vary in size, from extra oversized, moderate oversized, and smaller oversized. These papers were donated to the college at the prompting of Dr. The first three cartons of materials, consisting of both Dr.

Bender's records and those of her first husband, psychiatrist Paul Schilderwere deposited on March 18, In Octoberupon Dr. Bender's retirement from Creedmor State Hospital, she sent two additional cartons of materials. One more box was delivered to the library archive on October 9, Staff Interface ArchivesSpace. Skip to main content.

After his death, Bender continued to translate and publish his work. Bender did not remarry until the age of 70 to Henry B. He died infive years after their marriage. Bender began working at Bellevue Hospital in after she relocated there with Schilder. She was a psychiatrist and neuropathologist. She occasionally worked with certain therapies and used these in her diagnoses.

Most of her work involved abandoned children or children whose parents felt that there was something wrong with their child. Inshe testified on National Comics behalf to defend the industry as a medical expert on children. Inshe testified at the Senate Subcommittee of Juvenile Delinquency hearings on the effects of crime and horror comic books as a medical expert for National Comics now DC Comics with a job as an advisor for the company.

Unlike many other psychiatrists and psychologists at the time, Bender spent little time considering race as a factor for differences in mental abilities. It was a common belief that African American people were at a lower level of evolution than their Caucasian counterparts. Some of Bender's writings seem to contradict each other; some state that there were significant racial differences, and others state that there is little to no difference in race among children.

It is believed, however, that the publications she released regarding the races being evolutionarily different were actually her late husband's work and that she left them unaltered as a form of respect. There is some evidence that even though she rarely wrote about race and racial differences, she may not have ruled out racial primitivity. At the time, Bender was considered an expert in the psychology of African-American children because most of the children at Bellevue were African American.

Although she documented race when conducting her research, she often divided the differences in race into two categories; Functional significant differences that influence behavior and Non-functional differences have no significant impact on behavior. In short, she believed that there were differences in the races, and some made a difference while others did not.

Bender used the word "primitive" to describe French Guinean natives and used the term "civilized" to refer to African Americans. Describing African Americans as "civilized" was not the norm at the time. Bender explained that "primitive" did not mean intellectually different, and that to her it described those who were not exposed to the same education and culture as those she considered "civilized".

While conducting her research, Bender implemented several experimental procedures and used many therapeutic methods. Some of these experiments and therapies, as well as herdiagnoses, may be considered inaccurate and unethical by today's lauretta benders biography meaning. However, the zeitgeist of the time was much different than that of today, and many of the procedures used by Bender were being used by others around the same time.

During the s and the s, when Bender was working at Bellevue Hospitalthere was little knowledge in the realm of mental disorders. Many childhood psychiatric disorders were attributed to bad behavior or unsatisfactory upbringing. Bender diagnosed many children with " childhood schizophrenia ", and sought to treat these patients. It is important to note that with more knowledge, clinicians today would most likely diagnose these children with developmental or behavioral disorders.

In an attempt to treat those patients diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia, Bender employed electroconvulsive therapy ECT after finding that the practice was successful in other applications. ECT was used in an experiment in Paris on children and adolescents in and showed positive results. In Bender conducted ECT on 98 children diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia under the age of twelve years.

When Bender used the term autism, she treated it as part of a larger spectrum of childhood schizophrenia. Autism rarely occurred in lauretta bender biography meaning form, but typically combined with other developmental and psychiatric symptoms, including mental retardationhyperactivity, and aggression. She had no patience for the mother-blame that was central to psychogenesis.

Instead of scrutinizing parents for signs of emotional sabotage, she urged sympathy for parents who faced the challenge of caring for unresponsive, unpredictable offspring. Her emphasis on brain damage pointed toward neurological and psychopharmacological interventions as productive avenues of treatment and research. Bender administered ECT, major tranquilizers like thorazine, hallucinogens like LSD, and other psychoactive drugs to children as young as three years of age.

By the mids, Bender estimated that more than children at Bellevue had received ECT, typically daily for a period of 20 days. She always maintained that shock was safe and effective in eliciting more appropriate behavior from children, and her follow-up studies of children treated with shock never caused her to reconsider this practice. As for drugs, Bender hoped that LSD and a derivative, UML brand name: Sansert might benefit autistic children by providing psychedelic experiences that would mobilize perceptual growth and reduce developmental lags.

She began testing that theory on children at Creedmoor inwhere she administered these drugs daily to almost children. Many of them took these drugs for months at a time and several for years. Bender had a difficult time in school when she was young and had to repeat the first grade three times. She often reversed her letters when reading and writing which led people to believe she had some form of intellectual disability.

Lauretta bender biography meaning

Her father helped her compensate for her dyslexia and she often credited him for making her a strong individual. Bender earned a BA in and M. She completed her M. After graduation, she spent some time studying overseas, completed an internship at the University of Chicago and conducted research at Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Because she was not trained as a psychologist, but rather as a medical doctor and psychiatrist, most of her work focused on diagnosing mental disorders in children. Bender met Paul Schilder M. While working together, Bender and Schilder fell in love. Schilder was already married and eleven years older than Bender. In Bender moved to New York with Schilder.

They were married in after Schilder was divorced. Bender and Schilder had three children together before Schilder was hit by a car and killed. After his death, Bender continued to translate and publish his work. Bender did not remarry until the age of 70 to Henry B. He died infive years after their marriage. Bender began working at Bellevue Hospital in after she relocated there with Schilder.

She was awarded the position of senior psychiatrist at the Children's Psychiatric Division inand remained in the position for 21 years. Bender was not trained as a psychologist even though her work is used in psychology today. She was a psychiatrist and neuropathologist. Most of her work was in diagnosing mental disorders in children. She occasionally worked with certain therapies and used these in her diagnoses.

Most of her work involved abandoned children or children whose parents felt that there was something wrong with their child.