E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., is a research psychiatrist specializing in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (also known as manic-depressive illness). He is founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center and associate director for Research of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, which supports research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He is also a professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
From 1976 to 1985, Dr. Torrey was on the clinical staff of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in the treatment of severe psychiatric disorders. From 1988 to 1992, Dr. Torrey directed a study of identical twins with schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder. His work at the Stanley Medical Research Institute currently includes participating in ongoing collaborative research on viruses and other infectious agents as a cause of these diseases. He has also carried out research in Ireland and Papua New Guinea.
Dr. Torrey was educated at Princeton University (B.A., Magna Cum Laude), McGill University (M.D.), and Stanford University (M.A. in anthropology). He trained in psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. He practiced general medicine in Ethiopia for two years as a Peace Corps physician, in the South Bronx in an O.E.O. Health Center, and in Alaska in the Indian Health Service. From 1970 to 1975, he was a special assistant to the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
Dr. Torrey is a frequent expert guest on national radio and television and has written innumerable guest opinions for national and regional newspapers and magazines. He received two Commendation Medals from the U.S. Public Health Service; a 1984 Special Families Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI); a 1991 National Caring Award; a research award from the International Congress of Schizophrenia Research; a humanitarian award from NARSAD; a 2005 tribute included in NAMI's 25th Anniversary Celebratory Donor Wall; a 2014 Special Presidential Commendation from the American Psychiatric Association; the 2016 Thomas W. Salmon award from the New York Academy of Medicine; and a 2016 Honorary Degree from McGill University. Born in Utica, New York, in 1937, he is married with two children.
Dr. Torrey has authored 21 books and more than 200 lay and professional papers. His work has been translated into Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German and Chinese.
Notable Books by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey
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American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System 224 pages; Oxford University Press (2013); ISBN: 9780199988716 |
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The Insanity Offense: How America's Failure to Treat the Seriously Mentally Ill Endangers Its Citizens 265 pages; W.W. Norton (2008); ISBN: 978-0393066586 |
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Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Consumers and Providers (5th Edition) 576 pages; Harper Paperbacks (2006, 5th edition); ISBN: 0060842598 |
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The Invisible Plauge: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the Present 458 pages; Rutgers University Press (2007); ISBN 978-0813542072 |
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Surviving Manic-Depressive Illness: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families and Providers 432 pages; Basic Books (2005); ISBN: 0465086640 |
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Out of the Shadows: Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis 256 pages; John Wiley & Sons (1998); ISBN: 978-0471245322 |
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Schizophrenia and Manic-Depressive Disorder: The Biological Roots of Mental Illness as Revealed by a Landmark Study of Identical Twins 304 pages; Basic Books (1995); ISBN: 978-0465072859 |
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Freudian Fraud: The Malignant Effect of Freud's Theory on American Thought and Culture 362 pages; Harper Collins (1992); reprinted Lucas Books (1999); ISBN: 978-1929636006 |
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Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill: The Abuse of Jails As Mental Hospitals (out of print) Public Citizen Health Research Group and NAMI (1992) |
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Nowhere to Go: The Tragic Odyssey of the Homeless Mentally Ill 272 pages; Harper Collins (1989); ISBN: 978-0060915971 |
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Care of the Seriously Mentally Ill: A Rating of State Programs With Sidney M. Wolfe, Health Research Group and Laurie Flynn, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (1986, 1988, 1990) |
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Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists 316 pages; Harper Collins (1986); ISBN: 978-0060970246; Originally published as The Mind Game |
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The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeths 339 pages; McGraw Hill (1983); reprinted by Lucas Publishers (1999); ISBN: 978-1929636013 Nominated by the National Book Critics Circle as one of the best biographies of 1983 |
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Schizophrenia and Civilization 240 pages; Jarson Aronson Publishers (1980); reprinted ACLS Humanties E-Book (2008); ISBN: 978-1597405744 |