Eric Ledermann

Eric Kurt Ledermann (16 May 1908 – 7 May 2005) was a German psychiatrist, homeopath, naturopath and philosopher.

Biography

Ledermann was born in 1908 to Jewish parents in Berlin. He studied medicine at the University of Freiburg and took interest in philosophical vitalism. He attended a lecture of Alfred Adler and was deeply influenced by his work. He also took influence from Jan Smuts' book Holism and Evolution. He qualified at L.R.C.P. Edinburgh in 1934. He moved to London in 1935 to start his own medical practice. In 1936, he joined the Nature Cure Clinic where he practiced for over 50 years. He was a member of the Faculty of Homoeopathy and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. During his later years Ledermann researched acupuncture and in 2001 received an honorary membership of the Chinese Medical Institute and Register.

Selected publications

Status of Naturopathy (The British Medical Journal, 1951) Natural Therapy: An Exposition of the Scientific and Educational Aspects of Nature Cure (1953) Philosophy and Medicine (1970) Existential Neurosis (1972) Good Health Through Natural Therapy (1977) Ethics in Psychiatry: The Patient's Freedom and Bondage (Journal of Medical Ethics, 1982) Mental Health and Human Conscience (1985) Your Health in Your Hands: A Case for Natural Medicine (1989) Medicine for the Whole Person: A Critique of Scientific Medicine (1997)