John P. Gray (psychiatrist)
John P. Gray | |
|---|---|
John P. Gray circa 1880 | |
| Born | August 6, 1825 |
| Died | November 29, 1886 (aged 61) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Dickinson College University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
John Perdue Gray (August 6, 1825, Halfmoon Township (Pennsylvania) - November 29, 1886, Utica, New York) was an American psychiatrist at the forefront of biological psychiatric theory during the 19th century.
He attended Dickinson College, then the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he received his medical diploma in 1848., He spent on year of further studies in Europe, then as a resident at Blockley Asylum in Philadelphia. In 1850, Gray worked at the Utica Psychiatric Center in New York and was superintendent from 1854 until his death in 1886. He was also the editor of the American Journal of Insanity, the precursor to the American Journal of Psychiatry.
He was an psychiatric expert in the trial for the assassination of president James A. Garfield
Gray believed that insanity was always due to physical causes and that the mentally ill should be treated as physically ill. He explained that mental illness can be affected by physical factors relating to an individual. He studied three such factors, namely: diet, temperature and ventilation.