BY Lois T. Flaherty, M.D.
James F. Masterson, M.D.
James F. Masterson died at the age of 84 on April 12 in Greenwich Connecticut from complications of pneumonia. He was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who was one of the founders of ASAP and was Past-President of the New York SAP. He often spoke at our meetings and contributed to the Annals. He was a Schonfeld Award winner in 2001. He was well known as an expert on narcissism and borderline personality disorder, and described manifestations of these conditions throughout the life cycle, including in adolescence. He was among the first, along with Heinz Kohut and Otto Kernberg, to apply object relations theory to the understanding and treatment of personality disorders, maintaining that these disorders had their roots in infancy and early mother-child relationships. Dr. Masterson believed that these disorders crucially involve the conflict between a person’s two “selves”: the false self, who the very young child constructs to please the mother, and the true self.
An article in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Masterson ) states:
In 1993 Masterson proposed two categories for pathological narcissism, exhibitionist and closet. Both fail to adequately develop an age- and phase- appropriate self because of defects in the quality of psychological nurturing provided, usually by the mother. The exhibitionist narcissist is the one described in DSM-IV and differs from the closet narcissist in several important ways.
The closet narcissist is more likely to be described as having a deflated, inadequate self perception and greater awareness of emptiness within. The exhibitionist narcissist would be described as having an inflated, grandiose self perception with little or no conscious awareness of the emptiness within. Such a person would assume that this condition was normal and that others were just like them.
The closet narcissist seeks constant approval from others and appears similar to the borderline in the need to please others. The exhibitionist narcissist seeks perfect admiration all the time from others.
In 1977 Masterson established The Masterson Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in New York. The institute offers psychoanalytic training at its headquarters in Manhattan, its West Coast branch in San Francisco and, via the Internet, locations around the world. He was long associated with the Payne Whitney Clinic, where he headed the adolescent program, and at his death he was clinical professor emeritus of psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
Dr. Masterson, authored many books, including “The Psychiatric Dilemma of Adolescence” (Little, Brown, 1967).
The New York Times obituary on April 18 noted. “Dr. Masterson became so well known as an expert on narcissism that he sometimes attracted patients for whom only a high-profile therapist would do — in other words, narcissists. In the 1980s, after The New York Times cited him as an authority on the disorder, he received a dozen calls from people wanting treatment.
Too busy to accept new patients, Dr. Masterson referred the callers to his associates. As The Times reported in 1988, not a single one made an appointment.” <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/us/19masterson.html>.
Dr. Masterson is survived by his wife, Patricia, whom he married in 1949; two sons, Jim and Richard; a brother, Richard; a sister, Joan Masterson; and three grandchildren. We will miss him.
Michael G. Kalogerakis, M.D.
Lois Flaherty, M.D. and Shelley Doctors
Dr. Michael G. Kalogerakis, 83, died suddenly on March 14 while on vacation in Florida. A psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, he was Past-President of the American Society of Adolescent Psychiatry (1978-1979) and winner of the Schonfeld Award. He also served two terms as President of the International Society for Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology. He was a beloved friend, colleague and mentor to many in both organizations.
In addition, Mike, a long-time New Yorker, was the former Associate Commissioner for Children and Youth, at the New York State Office of Mental Health. As Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, and the former Director of Adolescent Services at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, he trained a generation of young psychiatrists, stimulating in many a passion for the study of adolescence and the pursuit of lifelong careers as adolescent psychotherapists.
Mike served as a Board member for 25 years for the Citizen’s Committee for Children of New York, the oldest child advocacy organization in the U.S., and was President of the Kenworthy-Swift Foundation. Michael worked tirelessly on task forces and committees of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, as well as on various advisory committees, in his ceaseless efforts to improve services to violent and/or delinquent adolescents who came to the attention to the juvenile justice system. Dr. Kalogerakis wrote over thirty book chapters and articles and was the editor of The Handbook of Psychiatric Practice in the Juvenile Court, published by the American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C., in 1992.
His dedication to adolescents influenced countless individuals and organizations locally, nationally, and internationally. Mike’s infectious enthusiasm won him friends wherever he went. It didn’t take long before he was able to speak to new friends in their own language–Spanish, Portuguese, French, Greek, and others we’re certain he would have modestly asked us to omit from mention. Dan Offer, writing in the New York Times online guestbook for Mike, expressed the feelings of many in saying, “I had the privilege of knowing Mike as a colleague and friend for at least 40 years. We shared joint interests in adolescent psychiatry and I considered him one of the wisest and most vivacious persons that I have ever known. We would always meet at the national meetings, have coffee or lunch and share experiences, opinions, and yes, of course, jokes. I will miss him.” Mike is survived by his wife Kay and his two sons, Alexi and George and their families. Alexi is a child and adolescent psychiatrist practices in New York; George is a New York Times reporter who chronicled trips with his father, including a 2007 family cruise off the coast of Turkey to celebrate Mike’s 80th birthday in (Three Generations on One Tiny Ship < http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/travel/06personal.html>).
Everett Dulit, M.D.
Everett Dulit, M.D. a long time member of ASAP passed away on June 2, 2010. He had been ill for some time but died at home in his bed and surrounded in his last weeks by his wife, children, extended family, and friends.
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