Surname:

Low

First name:

Abraham

Era:

20th century

Field of expertise:

Psychiatry
Social psychiatry

Place of birth:

Baranów Sandomierski (POL)

* 28.02.1891

† 01.01.1970

American psychiatrist and founder of the self-help organisation “Recovery, Inc.”

Abraham Low (1891–1954) was born in Baranów (Austrian Empire, today Poland) into a Jewish family. He studied medicine in Strasbourg and Vienna. After his military service in the Medical Corps of the Austrian Army towards the end of WW1, he graduated in Vienna in 1919. He emigrated to the United States in 1921 and obtained U.S. citizenship in 1927. He worked as an intern and junior doctor in Chicago and New York, was appointed assistant professor in 1931 and became full professor at the University of Illinois Medical School in 1940. In 1940/41, he was Acting Director of the school. Low also held the function of state medical officer in which he regularly visited the psychiatric institutions run by the state of Illinois. He conducted staff training courses, interviewed patients and published articles in the fields of neurology, child and adolescent psychiatry and group psychotherapy (cf. Low 1936).

Self-help movement

In November 1937, Low founded the self-help organisation “Recovery, Inc.”, registered as an independent non-profit organisation in 1941. This initiative for “mental health and psychiatric aftercare” focused on the continuous support and rehabilitation of long-term patients. With numerous lectures, staff training courses and publications, Low sought to advance self-help, the integration of relatives, psychoeducation and aftercare social work (e.g., The techniques of self-help in psychiatric aftercare, 1943; Mental health through will-training, 1950). Abraham Low died at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1954.

Recovery, Inc. can be deemed one of the most important precursors of today’s recovery movement (McCraine 2010: 473; Amering 2012). By 1975, already more than thousand initiatives and groups in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Israel had adopted the rehabilitation concept developed by Low (Melone 1975: 131). In 2009, the Recovery, Inc. changed its name to “Recovery International – The Abraham Low Institute”. 

Literature

Amering, M. (2012): Recovery – Reshaping Scientific Responsibilities. Recovery und seine Bedeutung für unsere wissenschaftliche Verantwortung. In: Psychiatria Danubina 24 (4), pp. 422–428.

Lee, D. T. (1995): Professional Underutilization of Recovery, Inc. In: Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal 19 (1), pp. 63–70.

Low, A. A. (1936): Studies in Infant Speech and Thought. Urbana: University of Illinois.

Low, A. A., Recovery Inc. (eds.) (1943): The Techniques of Self-Help in Psychiatric After-Care. Chicago: Recovery. Inc.

Low, A. A. (1943a): Group Psychotherapy. A Record of Class Interviews with Patients Suffering from Mental and Nervous Ailments. Chicago: Recovery, Inc.

Low, A. A. (1945): The Combined System of Group Psychotherapy and Self-Help as Practiced by Recovery, Inc. In: Sociometry 8 (3/4), pp. 94–99.

Low, A. A. (1966): Selections from Dr Low’s Works. Chicago: Recovery, Inc.

Low, A. A. (1967): Mental Health through Will-Training. A System of Self-Help in Psychotherapy as Practiced by Recovery, Incorporated. Boston: Christopher Pub House.

Low, A. A. (1980): Lectures to Relatives of Former Patients. Boston: Christopher Pub House.

Low, A. A. (1995): Manage Your Fears, Manage Your Anger. A Psychiatrist Speaks. Glencoe: Willet Pub Co.

McCraine, A. (2010): Recovery in Mental Illness: the Roots, Meanings, and Implementations of a “New” Services Movement. In: D. Pilgrim, A. Rogers, B. Pescosolido (eds.): The SAGE Handbook of Mental Health and Illness. London: Sage, pp. 471–489.

Melone, R. A. (1975): The Way Is in Your Will with Recovery, Inc. In: Counseling and Values 19 (2), pp. 131–134.

Robin Pape