Eric Kurt Ledermann
BMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7514.458-c (Published 18 August 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:458
Data supplement
Eric Kurt Ledermann
Former consultant Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital and consultant psychiatrist Marlborough Psychiatric Day Hospital, London (b Berlin 1908; q Berlin, then Edinburgh 1934; MD, FFHom, FRCPsych), died suddenly at home from coronary heart disease on 7 May 2005.After leaving Nazi Germany in 1933, Eric Ledermann requalified in Edinburgh and continued to develop his interest in philosophy and holistic medicine. He was appointed to the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital as a house physician, and then came to London in 1936 to begin his own practice combining this with work at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, where he became a consultant in 1965. He joined the Nature Cure Clinic in 1936 and practised there for over 50 years. He published several books on good health through natural therapy.
Ledermann’s interest in philosophy led him to develop a form of psychotherapy he termed "true-self psychotherapy," which aimed to make "the unconscious conscience conscious." For many years he worked at the Marlborough Psychiatric Day Hospital in London and was appointed a consultant there in 1963. His important public works in this field were Philosophy and Medicine (1970) and Existential Neurosis (1972). In 1986 he became an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
In his later years he also became a specialist in acupuncture and in 2001 he received an honorary membership of the Chinese Medical Institute and Register.
Predeceased by his wife, Marjorie, he leaves a son and a daughter and five grandchildren. [David Sturgeon, Elizabeth Sturgeon]