Robert Charles Powell, MD, PhD
After earning a bachelor’s degree in the natural sciences, with special distinction in the social sciences, from Shimer College (Illinois), a “Great Books” school, Dr. Powell earned doctorates in medicine and in philosophy from Duke University (North Carolina), within its Behavioral Sciences Study Program (linguistic psychiatry & theoretical biology) and its Medical Historian Training Program (European/ American history of science & of ideas).
During his graduate years, he earned the Josiah C. Trent Prize in the History of Medicine, from Duke University, in 1970, and the William Osler Medal, from the American Association for the History of Medicine, in 1971. In 1994, Dr. Powell was named “Psychiatrist of the Year,” by The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Illinois, and, in 1996, he was named an “Exemplary Psychiatrist” by the central office of The National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Following postgraduate work at the SUNY/ Upstate Medical Center (Syracuse) (psychiatry/ neurology/ medicine), and at the Michael Reese Institute for Psychosomatic & Psychiatric Research (Chicago) (clinical research on adolescence), Dr. Powell earned certification by the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology. He taught briefly at the medical schools of the University of Missouri – Kansas City, the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and Northwestern University (– Chicago).
His earliest writings concerned the development of holistic/ organismic theory in psychosomatic medicine, the concept of the subliminal/ subconscious, and the invention of clinical pastoral chaplaincy. His earliest research coordination concerned lithium and premenstrual syndrome.
Having earlier hitch-hiked throughout the British Isles, France, and Italy, he was among the last solo travelers on the overland trail from Istanbul to Kabul to Katmandu – eventually wandering throughout Iran, India, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma).
In late 1998, he was “rediscovered” by the clinical pastoral chaplaincy movement, and once again began contributing to its history, giving major presentations in 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2012, as well as providing relevant essays during the years between and since.
In private practice for 34 years -- followed by public practice since late 2013 -- he generally treated mixed psychiatric/ neurologic/ endocrinologic disorders in all age groups. During much of that time, he also worked, as a civilian medical officer, with military active duty personnel, retirees, and dependents, on whatever problems with which they presented, without assuming these to have emotional etiology. With sustained curiosity, he explored, among other things, how non-psychiatric factors masquerade as psychiatric disorders, how inflammatory factors impact the whole body (including the brain), and how answers to five short questions might suggest a person’s level of ego organization.
He and his wife, Pat, have a blended family of two sons, one daughter (now deceased), and four grandchildren. In November 2013, they moved from the Chicago Northshore to the Long Island Northshore. In October 2016, they began moving to the Boston Northshore, to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
Historically, Dr. Powell’s most popular booklet has been Anton T. Boisen (1876-1965): “Breaking an Opening in the Wall between Religion and Medicine,” 1976; 2nd ed., greatly expanded, 2021. His 2nd most popular booklet has been C.P.E. [Clinical Pastoral Education]: Fifty Years of Learning, through Supervised Encounter with “Living Human Documents,” 1975; 2nd ed., greatly expanded, 2021. Historically, his 3rd most popular booklet has been When Death Is Not Theoretical: The Readiness of the Music Group ‘Queen’ for Living with Freddie Mercury’s Dying, 2014; 2nd ed., greatly expanded, 2018. His 4th most popular booklet has been Differentiation of Moods as a Reflection of Ego Organization and Personality Style: Listening Very, Very Closely as Patients Answer Only Five Questions, 2017; clinical trainees especially have appreciated this booklet.
His most popular article by far is “Helen Flanders Dunbar (1902-1959) and a Holistic Approach to Psychosomatic Problems. I. The Rise and Fall of a Medical Philosophy,” Psychiatric Quarterly 49: 133 -152, 1977 (the 1st ed. is available online through ResearchGate; the 2nd ed. is not). His 2nd most popular article is “The ‘Subliminal’ versus the ‘Subconscious’ in the American Acceptance of Psychoanalysis, 1906-1910,” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 15: 155-165, 1979; revised & updated as a chapter in Freudian Concepts in America: The Role of Psychical Research in Preparing the Way: 1904-1934, 2015. His 3rd most popular article is "Anton T. Boisen's 'Psychiatric Examination: Content of Thought (1925-31): An Attempt to Grasp the Meaning of Mental Disorder," Psychiatry 40:369-375, 1977. An article he most had wished had had wider availability is “Psychosomatic Aspects of Affect in Psychoanalytic Theory, 1950-1970,” invited review essay, The American Academy of Psychoanalysis Forum 23 (4): 5-8, 1979. Of the above noted articles, the first, third, and fourth will be republished in expanded editions during late 2021.
In mid-2021, a number of his clinical studies were collected in one teaching volume:
Listening Closely to Patients: without Jumping to Conclusions {essays on practicing psychiatry}
[ > linguistic/ cognitive dynamic psychiatry meets neurologic/ nutritional/ endocrinologic psychobiology < ]
In 2021-2022-, thirty-nine essays (1969-2017) plus one widely-cited book (Healing and Wholeness ... , 1974) were prepared for re-publication across the next two years in seven inexpensive volumes – in expanded and revised form – after at least ten of his published writings had appeared on the internet without authorization (one very detailed article was submitted in 2020 under someone else's name as a medical dissertation). Most of these studies touch upon “psychosomatic" medicine and "clinical pastoral" care, counseling, or psychotherapy. He stands as a de facto biographer of Helen Flanders Dunbar (1902-1959), Anton Theophilus Boisen (1876-1965), Elwood Ernest Worcester (1862-1940), James Hervey Hyslop (1894-1920), and Ethel Phelps Stokes Hoyt (1876-1952).
[the first of the seven volumes is noted at
https://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Pastoral-Training-Education-Transformation/dp/1957994010/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1649320379&sr=1-1&asin=B09XC3H83V&revisionId=d3edcd90&format=1&depth=1 ]
[the second of the seven volumes is noted at
https://www.amazon.com/1876-1965-Breaking-Opening-Religion-Medicine/dp/1957994045/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&asin=1957994045&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1]
[the third of the seven volumes is noted at
https://www.amazon.com/1876-1965-Cooperative-Inquiry-Complex-Entanglements/dp/1957994061/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1XAX7D95FVZ5M&keywords=cooperative+inquiry&qid=1667240438&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&s=books&sprefix=cooperative+in%2Cstripbooks%2C261&sr=1-9&asin=1957994061&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1]
In 2023, a much expanded edition of his monograph on anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and pro-circulatory pentoxifylline will be published -- along with a smaller, related monograph on "pentoxifylline and the brain".
psychosomatic somatopsychic consultation-liaison percepts concepts
suffering bewildered vulnerable
Addendum: (autobiography, forthcoming someday:)
“Only I Escaped Alone to Tell Thee”:
A Memoir from the 1950s through the 2020s
(The Life & Times of a Wondering, Wandering, Writing Doctor)
a number of appendices will be included after the main text:
>> “Thelma & Bob”: My Parents’ Life Together
[Thelma Bibler Powell (1922-2015) &
Robert Edwin Powell (1921-1984)]
>> 9-11’s Effect (2001) on a Quiet US Military Base
>> Obtaining Official Clearance (2010) for Saudi Arabia
>> Foreign Wanderings [including “The Asian Overland Trail”/ “The
Hippie Trail” / "The Road to Kathmandu" – plus adventures
further east – the 1960s thru the 1980s]
>> Focusing on the Differentness of a Great Books School
>> Toward a Semiotic Approach to History:
Behavioral Analysis in the Diachronic Dimension
>> Medical Notes on the Older Sister I Never Met
[1st reported live birth with
hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia/ HHT]
>> Medical Education & Care before 1980
synchronic diachronic
Greece Turkey Iran Afghanistan Pakistan India Nepal Sri Lanka
Mayanmar/ Burma Thailand Hong Kong Macao Taiwan Japan
During his graduate years, he earned the Josiah C. Trent Prize in the History of Medicine, from Duke University, in 1970, and the William Osler Medal, from the American Association for the History of Medicine, in 1971. In 1994, Dr. Powell was named “Psychiatrist of the Year,” by The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Illinois, and, in 1996, he was named an “Exemplary Psychiatrist” by the central office of The National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Following postgraduate work at the SUNY/ Upstate Medical Center (Syracuse) (psychiatry/ neurology/ medicine), and at the Michael Reese Institute for Psychosomatic & Psychiatric Research (Chicago) (clinical research on adolescence), Dr. Powell earned certification by the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology. He taught briefly at the medical schools of the University of Missouri – Kansas City, the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and Northwestern University (– Chicago).
His earliest writings concerned the development of holistic/ organismic theory in psychosomatic medicine, the concept of the subliminal/ subconscious, and the invention of clinical pastoral chaplaincy. His earliest research coordination concerned lithium and premenstrual syndrome.
Having earlier hitch-hiked throughout the British Isles, France, and Italy, he was among the last solo travelers on the overland trail from Istanbul to Kabul to Katmandu – eventually wandering throughout Iran, India, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma).
In late 1998, he was “rediscovered” by the clinical pastoral chaplaincy movement, and once again began contributing to its history, giving major presentations in 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2012, as well as providing relevant essays during the years between and since.
In private practice for 34 years -- followed by public practice since late 2013 -- he generally treated mixed psychiatric/ neurologic/ endocrinologic disorders in all age groups. During much of that time, he also worked, as a civilian medical officer, with military active duty personnel, retirees, and dependents, on whatever problems with which they presented, without assuming these to have emotional etiology. With sustained curiosity, he explored, among other things, how non-psychiatric factors masquerade as psychiatric disorders, how inflammatory factors impact the whole body (including the brain), and how answers to five short questions might suggest a person’s level of ego organization.
He and his wife, Pat, have a blended family of two sons, one daughter (now deceased), and four grandchildren. In November 2013, they moved from the Chicago Northshore to the Long Island Northshore. In October 2016, they began moving to the Boston Northshore, to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
Historically, Dr. Powell’s most popular booklet has been Anton T. Boisen (1876-1965): “Breaking an Opening in the Wall between Religion and Medicine,” 1976; 2nd ed., greatly expanded, 2021. His 2nd most popular booklet has been C.P.E. [Clinical Pastoral Education]: Fifty Years of Learning, through Supervised Encounter with “Living Human Documents,” 1975; 2nd ed., greatly expanded, 2021. Historically, his 3rd most popular booklet has been When Death Is Not Theoretical: The Readiness of the Music Group ‘Queen’ for Living with Freddie Mercury’s Dying, 2014; 2nd ed., greatly expanded, 2018. His 4th most popular booklet has been Differentiation of Moods as a Reflection of Ego Organization and Personality Style: Listening Very, Very Closely as Patients Answer Only Five Questions, 2017; clinical trainees especially have appreciated this booklet.
His most popular article by far is “Helen Flanders Dunbar (1902-1959) and a Holistic Approach to Psychosomatic Problems. I. The Rise and Fall of a Medical Philosophy,” Psychiatric Quarterly 49: 133 -152, 1977 (the 1st ed. is available online through ResearchGate; the 2nd ed. is not). His 2nd most popular article is “The ‘Subliminal’ versus the ‘Subconscious’ in the American Acceptance of Psychoanalysis, 1906-1910,” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 15: 155-165, 1979; revised & updated as a chapter in Freudian Concepts in America: The Role of Psychical Research in Preparing the Way: 1904-1934, 2015. His 3rd most popular article is "Anton T. Boisen's 'Psychiatric Examination: Content of Thought (1925-31): An Attempt to Grasp the Meaning of Mental Disorder," Psychiatry 40:369-375, 1977. An article he most had wished had had wider availability is “Psychosomatic Aspects of Affect in Psychoanalytic Theory, 1950-1970,” invited review essay, The American Academy of Psychoanalysis Forum 23 (4): 5-8, 1979. Of the above noted articles, the first, third, and fourth will be republished in expanded editions during late 2021.
In mid-2021, a number of his clinical studies were collected in one teaching volume:
Listening Closely to Patients: without Jumping to Conclusions {essays on practicing psychiatry}
[ > linguistic/ cognitive dynamic psychiatry meets neurologic/ nutritional/ endocrinologic psychobiology < ]
In 2021-2022-, thirty-nine essays (1969-2017) plus one widely-cited book (Healing and Wholeness ... , 1974) were prepared for re-publication across the next two years in seven inexpensive volumes – in expanded and revised form – after at least ten of his published writings had appeared on the internet without authorization (one very detailed article was submitted in 2020 under someone else's name as a medical dissertation). Most of these studies touch upon “psychosomatic" medicine and "clinical pastoral" care, counseling, or psychotherapy. He stands as a de facto biographer of Helen Flanders Dunbar (1902-1959), Anton Theophilus Boisen (1876-1965), Elwood Ernest Worcester (1862-1940), James Hervey Hyslop (1894-1920), and Ethel Phelps Stokes Hoyt (1876-1952).
[the first of the seven volumes is noted at
https://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Pastoral-Training-Education-Transformation/dp/1957994010/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1649320379&sr=1-1&asin=B09XC3H83V&revisionId=d3edcd90&format=1&depth=1 ]
[the second of the seven volumes is noted at
https://www.amazon.com/1876-1965-Breaking-Opening-Religion-Medicine/dp/1957994045/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&asin=1957994045&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1]
[the third of the seven volumes is noted at
https://www.amazon.com/1876-1965-Cooperative-Inquiry-Complex-Entanglements/dp/1957994061/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1XAX7D95FVZ5M&keywords=cooperative+inquiry&qid=1667240438&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&s=books&sprefix=cooperative+in%2Cstripbooks%2C261&sr=1-9&asin=1957994061&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1]
In 2023, a much expanded edition of his monograph on anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and pro-circulatory pentoxifylline will be published -- along with a smaller, related monograph on "pentoxifylline and the brain".
psychosomatic somatopsychic consultation-liaison percepts concepts
suffering bewildered vulnerable
Addendum: (autobiography, forthcoming someday:)
“Only I Escaped Alone to Tell Thee”:
A Memoir from the 1950s through the 2020s
(The Life & Times of a Wondering, Wandering, Writing Doctor)
a number of appendices will be included after the main text:
>> “Thelma & Bob”: My Parents’ Life Together
[Thelma Bibler Powell (1922-2015) &
Robert Edwin Powell (1921-1984)]
>> 9-11’s Effect (2001) on a Quiet US Military Base
>> Obtaining Official Clearance (2010) for Saudi Arabia
>> Foreign Wanderings [including “The Asian Overland Trail”/ “The
Hippie Trail” / "The Road to Kathmandu" – plus adventures
further east – the 1960s thru the 1980s]
>> Focusing on the Differentness of a Great Books School
>> Toward a Semiotic Approach to History:
Behavioral Analysis in the Diachronic Dimension
>> Medical Notes on the Older Sister I Never Met
[1st reported live birth with
hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia/ HHT]
>> Medical Education & Care before 1980
synchronic diachronic
Greece Turkey Iran Afghanistan Pakistan India Nepal Sri Lanka
Mayanmar/ Burma Thailand Hong Kong Macao Taiwan Japan