Arthur Guirdham
Arthur Guirdham (* 1905 in Workington ; † 1992 ) was an English doctor and psychiatrist and literary author who wrote about the Cathars , reincarnation and alternative medicine .
Life
Guirdham was born into a working-class Huguenot family . Although his father was a simple steel worker, he attended high school and eventually Oxford University . During his career as a psychiatrist, his wife Maria assisted him as a secretary . After writing a few war thrillers , he became interested in the worldview of the Cathar sect. He came to believe that he had been the Cathar priest Roger de Grisolles in a previous life in France in the 13th century - the time of the persecution and extermination of the sect. His books The Lake and the Castle (1976) and The Great Heresy: History and Faith of the Cathars (1977) describe the faith of the Cathars, while The Theory of Disease (1957), which is also mentioned in Brain Inglis ' History of Medicine , throws an alternative perspective on mental illness and personality disorders early on, including some ideas that were later adopted by the anti-psychiatry movement.
Works (selection)
- Illness as Fate: Facts and Observations. Translated by Ed. A. Pfeiffer-Ringenkuhl, Alber, Freiburg 1960.
- One foot in both worlds: autobiography of a doctor. Translated by Carmen-Sylvia Kremer, Ancient-Mail-Verlag Betz, Groß-Gerau 2004, ISBN 3-935910-14-2 .
- Cathars and Reincarnation: The Record of a Past Life in Thirteenth-century France. Turnstone Press, Wellingborough 1982, ISBN 0-85500-165-8 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Arthur Guirdham in the WorldCat bibliographic database
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Guirdham, Arthur |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English doctor and psychiatrist and literary author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Workington |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1992 |