Eric Cunningham Dax
| Dr. Eric Cunningham Dax AO | |
|---|---|
Dr. Eric Cunningham Dax AO
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| Born |
18 May 1908 United Kingdom |
| Died | 29 January 2008 (aged 99) Melbourne, Australia |
Dr Eric Cunningham Dax, AO, BSc Lond, HonMD, FRACP, FRANZCP, HonFRCPsych (18 May 1908 – 29 January 2008) was a British-born Australian psychiatrist.
In England during the 1930s and 1940s, Dax worked with John Rawlings Rees, Francis Reitmann and other biological psychiatrists who advocated the use of somatic (physical) treatments for patients with mental problems. He contributed to the development of chemical shock,electroconvulsive therapy, and lobotomy while working at Netherne Hospital, Coulsdon, and continued to use lobotomy in Australia.
Between 1946 and 1951—when Dax was the Medical Superintendent of Netherne Hospital—he and Reitmann, continuing the 1930s research into art and psychosis at the Maudsley Hospital, pioneered the use of art as part of mainstream psychiatric treatment. Their interest was to research using art both for treatment and for assisting the diagnosis of mental disorder. Dax employed the artist Edward Adamson to facilitate a research art studio at Netherne, and 689 of the people compelled to live at Netherne painted with Adamson in this period, according to Robertson. Dax published his findings in 1953 in his "Experimental Studies in Psychiatric Art". He began a collection of artworks produced by psychiatric patients, taking about 20 objects from Netherne when he went to Melbourne, including paintings from the research art studio and tapestries made in occupational therapy. The Cunningham Dax Collection became one of the largest collections of its type in the world. The Collection can be viewed at the Dax Centre, located in Parkville, Victoria. The Centre runs public education programs and seeks to promote mental health and wellbeing by fostering a greater understanding of the mind, mental illness and trauma through art and creativity.
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