Ainslie Meares

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Ainslie Dixon Meares (born March 3, 1910 in Malvern , Victoria , † September 19, 1986 in Melbourne ) was an Australian psychiatrist who was known as a representative of hypnotherapy and researcher of meditative practices on the Indian subcontinent.

Live and act

Ainslie Meares was born to Albert and Eva Meares. He attended high school in Melbourne. He then studied at Melbourne University , where he earned a degree in agricultural science in 1934 . He then married Bonnie Byrne on June 18, 1934, with whom he had three children. He then decided to take up the profession of doctor. In 1940 he received his first degree in medicine with a major in surgery from the University of Melbourne. During World War II he served as a doctor in the Australian Army.

After the war he took further training in psychiatry in England and qualified as a specialist in 1947 after studying at the University of London . In 1958 he earned a medical doctorate from the University of Melbourne. As early as the 1940s, Meares dealt intensively with hypnosis and its possibilities in therapy. In the 1950s he began to publish his research results, which subsequently received much attention.

In the 1960s, his research on hypnosis was followed by research on meditation . In India , Nepal and Japan Meares dealt with methods of meditation in Hinduism and Buddhism . Meares wanted to meditate as a doctor to be effective on patients as a calm personality. At the same time, he developed meditative methods for his patients from the Asian models, which he used in pain therapy and to treat cancer .

In 1980, Meares studied the effects of longer meditation sessions on cancer patients by observing 73 people with advanced disease who meditated for two hours a day. In five cases he described dramatic improvements, in five others slower cancer progression, and in almost all cases a decrease in pain and an improvement in quality of life.

Ainslie Meares was also a catalyst for art therapy . In this regard, he worked on Judith Aron Rubin, among others . He was an influence on the writer Barbara Hanrahan . Meares was also friends with the philosopher and writer Volker Zotz , who in 1986 translated one of his books on meditation into German.

Selected works

  • A System of Medical Hypnosis. New York: Julian Press 1960
  • A way of doctoring. Melbourne: Hill of Content 1985
  • Cancer: Another way? Melbourne: Hill of Content 1977
  • Hypnography. A Study in the Therapeutic Use of Hypnotic Painting. Sprinflied: Charles C. Thomas 1957
  • Relief Without Drugs. The Self-Management of Tension, Anxiety and Pain. Sydney: Fontana 1970
  • The Door of Serenity: a Study in the Therapeutic Use of Symbolic Painting. London: Faber & Faber 1958.
  • The Wealth Within: Self-Help Through a System of Relaxing Meditation. Melbourne: Hill of Content 1978.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dates and biographical information from: H. Bower: "Obituary: Ainslie Dixon Meares," in: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry , Vol. 21, No. 2 (June 1987), pp. 251-252 and "Dr Ainslie Meares, Cancer Victim's Guru" in: The Sydney Morning Herald , September 22, 1986.
  2. ^ For example, Ainslie Meares: "A Dynamic Technique For The Induction Of Hypnosis," in: Medical Journal of Australia , Vol.I, No.18, (April 30, 1955), pp. 644-646
  3. ^ Thomas Alured Faunce: Pilgrims in Medicine. Conscience, Legalism and Human Rights . Leiden 2005 ( ISBN 9789004139626 ), p. 245, note 256
  4. ^ Ainslie Meares, "A Form of Intensive Meditation Associated with the Regression of Cancer," in: The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis , Vol.25, Nos.2 / 3, (October 1982 / January 1983), pp. 114-121
  5. ^ Catherine Phillips: Calm Your Mind, Warm Your Heart: Real Voices and Techniques to Support You . Alberta 2013 ( ISBN 9781550594447 ), p. 60
  6. ↑ Maxine Borowsky Junge, Harriet Wadeson (Ed.): Architects of Art Therapy: Memoirs and Life Stories . Springfield Ill. 2006 ( ISBN 9780398076856 ), p. 314
  7. ^ Judith Aron Rubin: Art Therapy . Philadelphia 1999 ( ISBN 9780876308974 ), p. 223
  8. ^ Annette Steward: Barbara Hanrahan. A biography . Kent Town 2010 ( ISBN 9781862548244 ) pp. 207, 210, 236 and 237
  9. ↑ Ainslie Meares: Do not be afraid - live and win. How to reduce fears in order to live happily. Transferred and edited by Volker HM Zotz. Munich: Verlag Peter Erd 1986 ( ISBN 3-8138-0051-2 )
personal data
SURNAME Meares, Ainslie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meares, Ainslie Dixon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian psychiatrist
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Malvern , Victoria
DATE OF DEATH September 19, 1986
Place of death Melbourne