Joseph Berke
Joseph H. Berke, M.D., is an individual and family psychotherapist.
Early years
He studied at Columbia College of Columbia University and graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.[1] He moved to London in 1965 where Berke worked with R. D. Laing in the 1960s when the Philadelphia Association was set up, and was resident at Kingsley Hall, where he helped Mary Barnes, a nurse who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, to emerge from madness.[2] Barnes later became a famous artist, writer and mystic. A stage play based on the book that Berke and Barnes wrote together (Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey Through Madness) was adapted as a stage play by David Edgar. A film adaptation of the book is corrently under consideration. Berke collaborated on a number of projects with Laing, including the Dialectics of Liberation international conference in London, 15–30 July 1967, where Berke was the principal organizer. Berke currently works as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist for Individuals and Families. He is the Co-founder of the Arbours Association in London in 1970, and the Founder and Director of the Arbours Crisis Centre (1973-2010) London, as well as a lecturer and teacher.
Books
Berke is the author of many articles and books on psychological, social, political and religious themes, including:
- Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey through Madness (with Mary Barnes)(2002) 3rd Edition, New York: Other Press
- The Cannabis Experience: An Interpretative Study of the Effects of Marijuana and Hashish (with Calvin Hernton) (1974), London: Peter Owen
- I Haven't Had To Go Mad Here (1979) Pelican Books
- The Tyranny of Malice: Exploring the Dark Side of Character and Culture (1988) NY: Summit Books
- Sanctuary: The Arbours Experience of Alternative Community Care (co-editor)(1995) London: Process Press
- Even Paranoids Have Enemies: New Perspectives on Paranoia and Persecution (co-editor).(1998)London: Routledge
His recent books include: Beyond Madness: PsychoSocial Interventions in Psychosis (co-editor) (2001) London: Jessica Kingsley Malice Through the Looking Glass (2009) 2nd Edition, London: Teva Publications Centers of Power: The Convergence of Psychoanalysis and Kabbalah (with Stanley Schneider) (2008) NY: Jason Aronson
His most recent work has just been published: Why I Hate You and You Hate Me: The Interplay of Envy, Greed, Jealousy and Narcissism (2013) London: Karnac Books
Berke is also completing: "The Highgate Haggadah of Tu B'Shevat" ( Narrative of the Birthday of Trees) (to be published in 2014 by Teva Publications, London. He is also working on: "Freud and the Rebbe" (to be published in 2014 by Karnac Books, London)
