{{Short description|American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst}} thumb|Adolph Stern in 1920 '''Adolph Stern''' (1879{{Spaced en dash}}20 August 1958<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=PEP {{!}} Browse {{!}} Read - Adolph Stern—1879-1958 |url=https://pep-web.org/browse/document/paq.028.0149b?index=40 |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=pep-web.org}}</ref> or 22 August 1958<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Shoenfeld |first=Dudley D. |date=April 1959 |title=In Memoriam |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000306515900700212 |journal=Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=381–383 |doi=10.1177/000306515900700212 |pmid=13641079 |s2cid=221012609 |issn=0003-0651|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=23 August 1958 |title=DR. ADOLPH STERN 'DIES: ' PSYCHOANALYST HERE WAS 79-I STUDIED UNDER FREUD |work=New York Times |url=https://liverpool.idm.oclc.org/login?url?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/dr-adolph-st-ern-dies/docview/114392331 |access-date=25 August 2023}}</ref>) was an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He is credited with providing the first formal account of what he termed "Borderline Group", which later became known as borderline personality disorder. <ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=David W. |date=July 2023 |title=A history of borderline: disorder at the heart of psychiatry |url=https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/jps/16/2/article-p117.xml |journal=Journal of Psychosocial Studies |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=117–134 |doi=10.1332/147867323X16871713092130 |issn=1478-6737|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Health (UK) |first=National Collaborating Centre for Mental |title=BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER |date=2009 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK55415/ |work=Borderline Personality Disorder: Treatment and Management |access-date=2023-08-20 |publisher=British Psychological Society (UK) |language=en}}</ref>
==Life== Adolph Stern arrived in the United States at the age of 4 from Hungary.<ref name=":3" /> He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1898 from City University of New York and his MD from Columbia University. He then worked for 3 years as a resident physician at Kings Park Psychiatric Center. He then practiced in New York in Neurology and psychiatry.<ref name=":1" /> He first became interested in psychoanalysis in 1910, and by 1915 had joined the American Psychoanalytic Association.<ref name=":0" /> From 1914 to 1917 he was affiliated with the Neurological and Vanderbilt Clinic. In 1920 he was analysed by Sigmund Freud.<ref name=":0" /> Between 1920 and 1922 he was co-chief of the Mental Hygiene department of the Mount Sinai Hospital alongside Dr Oberndorf.<ref name=":1" />
From 1927 to 1928 he was president of the American Psychoanalytic Association.<ref name=":0" /> He was also president of the New York Psychoanalytic Society on three occasions 1922–1923, 1924–1925, and 1940–1942.<ref name=":0" /> From the foundation of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute in 1931 he was an instructor there, and was an emeritus instructor at the time of his death.<ref name=":0" />
Adolph Stern identified the "borderline group" of patients as those who do not fit into psychotic or psychoneurotic categories, often exhibiting symptoms such as narcissism, psychic rigidity, and profound feelings of inferiority. Stern worked with patients he classified as part of the "borderline group", who he felt did not respond well to traditional psychoanalytic therapy (Stern, 1938). <ref>{{Citation |last=Bateman |first=Anthony W. |title=Borderline personality disorder. |url=https://doi.org/10.1037/12353-037 |work=History of psychotherapy: Continuity and change (2nd ed.). |date=2011 |pages=588–600 |access-date=2023-08-20 |place=Washington |publisher=American Psychological Association |language=en |doi=10.1037/12353-037|isbn=978-1-4338-0762-6 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> He observed that these patients often had histories of trauma, leading him to advocate for more active and supportive techniques.These patients typically experience acute neuroses like anxiety and depression. Stern emphasizes the need for prolonged supportive treatment before traditional psychoanalytic techniques can be effectively applied (Stern, 1938). He highlights the intense dependency and emotional immaturity of these patients, which complicates their engagement in therapy. By focusing on the transference relationship, therapists can help these patients develop healthier coping mechanisms and emotional maturity, ultimately enhancing the therapeutic process (Stern, 1938). <ref name=":2" />
===Death=== He died on 20<ref name=":0" /> or 22<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> August 1958 following a short illness, whilst vacationing in his holiday home in New Jersey.<ref name=":0" /> Other sources state he died of a heart attack in Lenox Hill Hospital.<ref name=":3" /> Prior to his death he lived on 134 West Fifty-fifth Street, New York. <ref name=":3" /> He was survived by his widow Mamie and brothers John, Albert, Benjamin, and Peter. <ref name=":3" />
== Important works == * Adolph Stern (1938) "Psychoanalytic Investigation of and Therapy in the Border Line Group of Neuroses", ''The Psychoanalytic Quarterly'', 7:4, 467–489, {{doi|10.1080/21674086.1938.11925367}} * Adolph Stern (1957). "The Transference in the Borderline Group of Neuroses", ''Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association'', 5(2), 348–350. {{doi|10.1177/000306515700500211}}
== References == <references />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Adolph}} Category:1879 births Category:1958 deaths Category:American psychoanalysts Category:Borderline personality disorder experts Category:Analysands of Sigmund Freud Category:American psychiatrists Category:Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni Category:City College of New York alumni