Lise Østergaard

Anna Elisabeth "Lise" Østergaard (18November 192419March 1996) was a Danish psychologist and a politician for the Social Democrats. Under Anker Jørgensen's leadership, she was Minister without Portfolio (1977–80) and Minister of Culture (1980–82). As a psychologist, she was head of psychology in Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet as well as the first woman to become professor of clinical psychology at the University of Copenhagen (1963), a position she resumed after her political career ended in the mid-1980s.

Early life Born on 18November 1924 in Odense, Østergaard was the daughter of Alfred Østergaard (1890–1962) and his wife Martha Kirstine Nielsen (1885–1944). She spent her first 12 years in Odense before moving with her parents to Gentofte. Although she encountered difficulties at school, she finally embarked on psychology studies at the University of Copenhagen. On leaving home against her father's wishes, she paid her own way by working as a doctor's secretary. raised considerable interest among psychiatrists. While working at Rigshospitalet, Østergaard treated a number of schizophrenic patients. In 1962, this led to her En psykologisk analyse af de formelle schizofrene tankeforstyrrelser (A Psychological Analysis of Formal Schizophrenic Thought Disorders), paving the way for research on the borderline between psychology and psychiatry in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States. She shares a grave with Gunnar P. Rosendahl (1919–1996) whom she married in 1974.