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Dennis Friedman FRCPsych

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

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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.
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Psychiatrist and media commentator who blamed the 2008 economic meltdown on the way in which bankers were parented.

Psychiatrist Dennis Friedman became a sought after media commentator on the relationships of the British Royal Family after writing a series of ‘psychobiographies’ of the Royals. Reference Friedman1-Reference Friedman3 His real interest, however, was the dynamics of all families – particularly the way early upbringing may affect people's later lives.

His theories were drawn from his lengthy clinical career, first in general practice in the early years of the National Health Service, then as a psychiatrist. Friedman was still in contact with some of his patients – albeit informally – when he died at the age of 90. His recently updated book Inheritance: A Psychological History of the Royal Family Reference Friedman1 considers the effect of the parenting styles of the country's most prominent family, from Queen Victoria's distant relations with her firstborn son, to the current Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's more relaxed relationship with the infant Prince George.

Friedman's wife of 65 ‘extremely happy’ years, the writer Rosemary Friedman, said that her late husband's decision to write about the Royal Family stemmed from a desire to illustrate family relationships by using a family that everyone knew about. ‘It wasn't really so much [royalty]. He was looking for a key, so he could describe one family, and everyone could relate to them, their relationships and methods of bringing up their children. He used it as a jumping off point,’ she said.

Friedman believed that outsourcing the care of a baby to nannies could lead to infidelity and other problems in later life – a view that has been controversial, particularly among working women. During the banking crisis, he opined in the media that the bankers' failures may have reflected a lack of maternal love in their childhood, while commenting on his book An Unsolicited Gift: Why We Do What We Do. Reference Friedman4 In the book itself, he wrote: ‘Children with few inner resources will grow up to source the missing component of their birthday gift. Sexual promiscuity, the misuse of chemicals, risk taking, and crime provide a quick fix. Those who … seek the illusion of security through financial fraud, who look for highs by risking their lives and the lives of others by living dangerously, are likely to be re-enacting a time when the two people they might have expected to provide them with love and security failed to do so.’ Reference Friedman4

Literary success aside, Mrs Friedman said that her husband believed his greatest achievement was the warm relationships he had with his patients. ‘His patients always became his friends. I have had so many letters from people about how he turned their lives around and made them able to function. From when he started in general practice he had this ability to connect with the patients. It was more than a consultation,’ she said. ‘He had this art of communicating with them, opening up, and making them feel at ease. It didn't matter whether they were teenagers or elderly people, from any walk of life.’ His patients ranged from newspaper sellers to Cabinet ministers, she said.

Born in Stamford Hill, north London, Friedman trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital before completing his studies at Queens' College, Cambridge. As a singlehanded general practitioner in Edgware for 15 years, he looked after a list of 3000 people, at a time when general practice meant many home visits, often at night. Eventually he returned to Barts to train in psychiatry, having decided that this was the branch of medicine where he felt most comfortable. He became a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1964, and was elected a fellow in 1978.

Clinical posts included medical director of the London Stress Clinics at the Devonshire Hospital (1988-91) and the Charter Clinic in Chelsea (1991-94), and consultant psychiatrist at the Florence Nightingale Hospital and the Cromwell Hospital. He also practised privately, seeing patients in consulting rooms in Harley Street and Wimpole Street, as well as at his family home in Regents Park, London.

During his psychiatric career he undertook research into phobias, sexual problems, and parenting issues. Much of his early research from the 1960s involved the development of behavioural therapy techniques to desensitise people with phobias. Reference Friedman5,Reference Friedman and Freeman6 During the 1970s and 1980s, his interests shifted to psychosexual medicine and sexual dysfunction. Reference Friedman and Lipsedge7-Reference Friedman, Cole and Dryden9

He turned to writing on his retirement at the age of 75, publishing six books during the 1990s and 2000s. More recently, Friedman himself became a patient, recuperating from heart disease. This experience inspired his only novel, The Lonely Hearts Club, Reference Friedman10 which takes as its premise a group of men who meet in a gym while undertaking cardiac rehabilitation. Mrs Friedman said her husband had himself become the focus of a group of patients who stayed in touch and often lunched together after their rehabilitation classes.

Dennis Emmanuel Friedman (b. 1924; q Queens' College, Cambridge, 1949; FRCPsych), died from pulmonary fibrosis on 6 December 2014. He leaves his wife, Rosemary (née Tibber), and four daughters.

References

1 Friedman, DE. Inheritance: A Psychological History of the Royal Family. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1993 (revised edition: Peter Owen, 2014).Google Scholar
2 Friedman, DE. Darling Georgie: The Enigma of King George V. Peter Owen, 1998.Google Scholar
3 Friedman, DE. The Ladies of the Bedchamber: The Role of the Royal Mistress. Peter Owen, 2003.Google Scholar
4 Friedman, DE. An Unsolicited Gift: Why We Do What We Do. Arcadia Books, 2010.Google Scholar
5 Friedman, DE. A new technique for the systematic desensitisation of phobic symptoms. Behav Res Ther 1966A; 4: 139–40.Google Scholar
6 Friedman, DE. A new technique for desensitization. In Progress In Behaviour Therapy (ed. Freeman, H): 4450. John Wright, 1968.Google Scholar
7 Friedman, D, Lipsedge, MS. Treatment of phobic anxiety and psychogenic impotence by systematic desensitization employing methohexitoneinduced relaxation. Br J Psychiatry 1971; 118: 8790.Google Scholar
8 Money, J, Musaph, H (eds) Handbook of Sexology. Elsevier/ExcerptaMedica, 1977.Google Scholar
9 Friedman, DE. Assessing the basis of sexual dysfunction: diagnostic procedures. In Sex Therapy in Britain (eds Cole, M, Dryden, W). Open University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
10 Friedman, DE. The Lonely Hearts Club. Peter Owen, 2012.Google Scholar
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