Jean Baker Miller
| Jean Baker Miller | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 29, 1927 Bronx, New York City |
| Died | July 29, 2006 (aged 78) |
| Education | B.S. Sarah Lawrence College M.D. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
| Occupation | psychiatrist psychoanalyst social activist feminist author |
| Spouse(s) | S. M. Miller |
| Children |
Jonathan F. Miller Edward D. Miller |
Jean Baker Miller (1927–2006) was a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, social activist, feminist, and author. She wrote Toward a New Psychology of Women, which brings psychological thought together with relational-cultural theory.
Jean Baker Miller was born to a Jewish family on September 29, 1927, in the Bronx in New York City. She was diagnosed with polio at an early age, and was inspired to pursue a career in medicine while in the care of nurses. She attended Hunter College High School in New York City and in '48 graduated Sarah Lawrence College. She got her M.D. at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1952, and was in New York for psychiatric residency programs at Montefiore Medical Center, Bellevue Hospital Center, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Upstate Medical Center, New York Medical College, where she completed her psychoanalytic training.
Miller opened a private practice in New York, and then moved to Boston in 1973. She edited Psychoanalysis and Women (1973), and then wrote Toward a New Psychology of Women (1976), which has become a classic in its field and has been translated into twenty languages. Miller describes the "relational model" of human development ("Relational-Cultural Theory"), proposing that "growth-fostering relationships are a central human necessity and that disconnections are the source of psychological problems." Inspired by Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique, and other feminist classics from the 1960s, Relational-Cultural Theory proposes that "isolation is one of the most damaging human experiences and is best treated by reconnecting with other people," and that therapists should "foster an atmosphere of empathy and acceptance for the patient, even at the cost of the therapist’s neutrality." The theory is based on clinical observations and sought to prove that "there was nothing wrong with women, but rather with the way modern culture viewed them."
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