Austen Fox Riggs

Austen Fox Riggs (December 12, 1876 – March 5, 1940) was an American psychiatrist and pioneering researcher in stress response. In 1913, he founded the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric treatment facility in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Biography Austen Fox Riggs was born on December 12, 1876, in Kassel, Germany, to American parents, Benjamin C. Riggs and Rebecca (Fox) Riggs. He completed further post-graduate work at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1904.

In 1907, Riggs was recovering from tuberculosis at his Stockbridge, Massachusetts home when he began furthering his understanding of psychiatry and psychology. In 1913, he established the Stockbridge Institute for the Study and Treatment of Psychoneuroses, a mental health facility for voluntary admittance patients. In 1919, it was renamed to the Austen Riggs Foundation, and today is known as the Austen Riggs Center.

In 1927, Riggs was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by Williams College.

Riggs served as its president and medical director at the Austen Riggs Ceneter until his death in 1940 due to illness.