Harold Greenwald

Harold Greenwald (July 28, 1910 – March 26, 1999) was a noted psychotherapist who pioneered a variation on rational emotive behavior therapy, "direct decision therapy." He was an expert on the psychology of prostitution, and authored a dissertation on call girls that became a best-selling book and movie.

Greenwald was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the son of Abraham Greenwald, a barber, and his wife, Lillian, who were refugees from Czarist Russia. His younger brother, Milton, later known by the stage name Michael Kidd, became an acclaimed choreographer and occasional actor on Broadway and in Hollywood movies.

Harold Greenwald graduated from the City College of New York in 1933, and worked for the New York City Housing Authority and city planning board. He was a civilian instructor for the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.

Greenwald turned to the study of psychology while in his 40s, and in 1956 earned a doctorate from Columbia University. He became prominent among psychoanalysts circles as a leading student of Theodore Reik, a disciple of Sigmund Freud. He became president of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, which promotes Freudian therapy, early in his career. However, Greenwald chafed at the long periods of quiet listening required in Freudian psychoanalysis, so he developed direct decision therapy. He believed that decisions were at the root of understanding dysfunctional behavior and personality disorders, and that people are free to change their decisions as they go through life. He even believed that happiness "could be made as a decision."

Greenwald, who was founder and president of the Direct Decision Therapy Institute, found that there were geographic differences in happiness, with people living on the West Coast more likely to say that they were happy than people living in the east. He said in a 1984 interview that "people who live on the East Coast seem to think it makes you more superficial to be happy. It's scary to be happy. Some people think that if you're happy, other people will hate you" and make demands.

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