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characteristics that lie a step closer to DNA than the clinically
observable symptoms and signs, the ‘exophenotypes’, by
which disorders are defined. Irv continued to elaborate the
endophenotype concept over ensuing years and it provoked
thousands of papers by others, a sort of Higgs boson for
biological psychiatry. Unlike the Higgs particle, the existence of
endophenotypes has yet to be proved experimentally for any of
the major disorders.
Irv was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Hungarian-Romanian
Jewish emigre parents, Bernard, an insurance agent, and
Virginia (nee Weitzner). He was a science enthusiast from
an early age and began a physics degree while serving as an
officer in the US navy, later switching to psychology. He
completed his PhD at the University of Minnesota on the
genetics of personality but initially had great difficulty in
getting his findings published because of the prevailing
orthodoxy in US academia in the late 1950s that behaviour was
entirely due to nurture and nothing to do with nature.
After his postdoctoral fellowship in London, Irv returned in
1966 to the biology-friendly department of psychology in
Minneapolis and set up one of the first behaviour genetics
training programmes in the US. He thereafter held chairs in
Washington University in St Louis (1980
-
85), where I first
came under his mentorship as a visiting MRC fellow, and at the
University of Virginia (1986
-
2001), where he set up a clinical
psychology doctorate, before returning to Minnesota, where he
remained for the rest of his career.
He won many plaudits and prizes worldwide but retained
particular affection for and gratitude to the UK, where his
recent awards included honorary fellowship of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists and King’s College London.
Irv is survived by his wife, Carol (nee Applen), whom he
married in 1970, and their sons, Adam and David, and
grandchildren, Josh, Ava and Fiona.
Irving Isadore Gottesman, clinical psychologist and
geneticist, born 29 December 1930; died 29 June 2016
Peter McGuffin
This article has been reproduced with kind permission from
theguardian.com
doi:10.1192/pb.bp.116.05558 2
B2017 The Author. This is an open-access article published by the
Royal College of Psychiatrists and distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
Reviews
The Other Side of Silence:
A Psychiatrist’s Memoir of Depression
By Linda Gask
Summersdale 2015, £9.99, pb, 272 pp.
ISBN: 9781849537544
Linda Gask is an eminent academic psychiatrist with an
outstanding international reputation. I state this upfront
because it is none too obvious from this book
-
owing to
her self-effacing style
-
and in my opinion, it is very relevant.
I should also declare an interest as Linda and I were in the same
year at Edinburgh University’s medical school and I have heard
small snippets of this story from her over the ensuing years.
In this excellent book Linda Gask shows what may be
achieved despite living with a recurrent depressive illness;
hope emerges even from her darkest moments and this work
should encourage many. It is striking for its frankness and
honesty
-
no small achievement given that she clearly must
have known it would be read not only by colleagues, but by
patients past and present, some of whom would have known
little about her. She even mentions her failure to pass the
MRCPsych exam at the first attempt and describes her
-
surprising to some!
-
experience of how sensitive and
supportive a very senior academic colleague was at this time.
The book chronicles her life and career and the impact of
her illness, including thoughtful reflections on its roots (in her
early life). She teaches us about depression through the mirror
of her own illness and that of her patients, and brings this to
life through the use of clinical vignettes. She emphasises the
importance of both biological and psychosocial factors in the
origins of this illness and her description of treatments is both
fair and accurate. Her accounts of her interactions with
patients are particularly helpful and should be of value to any
doctor, whether trainee or senior. I especially valued her
comments on those whose failure to improve is ascribed to
personality disorder, which is, alas, an all too common tactic of
many psychiatrists.
This is an exceptional book and should be read by many,
both doctors and patients. The high-profile endorsements
on the cover are entirely deserved. Some years ago Linda
wrote another excellent book entitled A Short Introduction to
Psychiatry. I gave it to many medical students to read.
I will give this to many more.
To m Br o w n , retired psychiatrist, UK; email: t.m.brown@blueyonder.co.uk
doi:10.1192/pb.bp.115.053108
B2017 The Author.This is an open-access article published by the Royal College
of Psychiatrists and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org /licenses/by/4.0), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided
the original work is properly cited.
Mentalisation-Based Group Therapy (MBT-G):
A Theoretical, Clinical, and Research Manual
By Sigmund Karterud
Oxford University Press, 2015, £24.99, pb, 240 pp.
ISBN: 9780198753742
This book presents a challenge for a reviewer because it is both
a theoretical text and a technical manual. The technique in
question is mentalisation-based group therapy (MBT-G) and
COLUMNS
Obituaries
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