Leston Laycock Havens, MD (July 31, 1924–July 29, 2011) was an American psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Havens is best known for his work on biological psychiatry, the rehabilitation of severely ill patients, and methods of interviewing patients. He was also a pioneer in the establishment of hospital psychopharmacology units.
Early life
Havens was born on July 31, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York City, where he also grew up. His father was a lawyer, and Havens originally considered law as a career path before deciding on medicine. When he entered Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, he studied English and history, as well as philosophy. In 1944, during World War II, he joined the U.S. Army, serving until 1946. He was stationed on Tinian, a captured Japanese island in the Pacific, where he located and detonated abandoned ammunition. After his discharge from the military, Havens completed his B.A. magna cum laude, in 1947.
Academic life
Havens went on to attend Cornell Medical School, graduating with his M.D. in 1952. He served as an intern in Internal Medicine at the New York Hospital and stayed there until 1954 as an assistant resident. Havens completed his residency from 1954 to 1958 at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital (now the Massachusetts Mental Health Center). This began a long connection with the Harvard University Medical School. In 1954, Havens was appointed as a Teaching Fellow in Psychiatry at Harvard and by 1971 was promoted to full professor status at Harvard Medical School.
While at Boston Psychopathic, Havens founded the Psychopharmacology Unit; one of the first in the country and one that would become famous. There he completed many studies on Electroconvulsive Therapy. Between 1964 and 1982 Havens directed the medical student clerkship at Boston Psychopathic.
From 1987 to 1996, Havens directed the psychiatry residency program at Cambridge Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. At Cambridge, he taught psychiatrists and psychologists. He taught his students to listen and relate to their patients rather than categorize or pathologize them.
Many of his lectures and recorded sessions are stored on the archived version of the Harvard Leston Havens M.D. Teaching Site.
Works
Havens authored or coauthored over 150 publications, including seven books, at first centered around psychopharmacology and then later focused more around psychotherapeutic practice and technique.
Making Contact
Making Contact: Uses of Language in Psychotherapy (1986) explores the precise application of language in the therapy room. Susan Monsky of the Boston Globe described the book as “a basic grammar of empathy.” Havens breaks down three buckets of language: empathetic language—finding the other—interpersonal language—managing distance—and performative language—liberating the patient, a concept Havens borrows from JL Austin. The suggested language, experienced by the patient as understanding, makes contact with what are abstractly understood to be drives and internal structures. Words bring abstract understanding into relationship with experience; the persons involved become the conveyance. The process is similar to what engineering does with scientific principles. It translates them through the medium of the physical world.
A Safe Place
A Safe Place: Laying the Groundwork of Psychotherapy (1989) reviews the history of psychotherapy and psychiatry and discusses the conditions for therapeutic growth and healing.
Awards
Leston Havens received many awards throughout his career.
Bibliography
External links
Leston L. Havens MD Teaching Site (archived website)
References
