# Alexandra Adler
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alexandra_Adler
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alexandra_Adler.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Adler
> Source revision: 1355258483
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Short description|Austrian neurologist (1901–2001)}}
{{Infobox person/Wikidata | fetchwikidata=ALL | dateformat=dmy | suppressfields=education}}
'''Alexandra Adler''' (24 September 1901 – 4 January 2001) was an Austrian [neurologist](/source/neurology) and the daughter of [psychoanalyst](/source/psychoanalyst) [Alfred Adler](/source/Alfred_Adler) and [Raissa Adler](/source/Raissa_Adler). She has been described as one of the "leading systematizers and interpreters" of [Adlerian psychology](/source/Adlerian_psychology).[{{cite journal| last = Vande Kemp| first = Hendrika| title = Alexandra Adler, 1901-2001| journal = The Feminist Psychologist| publisher = Society for the Psychology of Women| volume = 30| issue = 2 | date = Spring 2003| url = http://www.psych.yorku.ca/femhop/Adler.htm| format = reprint |access-date = 2012-10-08}}] Her sister was [socialist](/source/Socialism) activist [Valentine Adler](/source/Valentine_Adler).[{{cite encyclopedia|title=Adler, Valentine (1898–1942)|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2591300140.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518202634/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2591300140.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 May 2013|encyclopedia=Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia|publisher=Gale Research Inc.|access-date=10 January 2013}}{{subscription required}}] Alexandra Adler's husband was Halfdan Gregersen.[Saxon, W. (2001, Jan 12). Dr. alexandra adler, 99, expert on traumas to brain. New York Times (1923-Current File) {{ProQuest|92005276}}]
==Career==
Adler was born in September 24th 1901 in Vienna, Austria to a well-to-do Jewish family -her father and grandfather father were Austrian-Jews and her paternal grandmother was of [Hungarian Jewish](/source/Hungarian_Jewish) origin-. Adler's mother was born in [Russia](/source/Russia) to a [Russian-Jewish](/source/Russian-Jewish) merchant family. Adler completed her medical studies at the [University of Vienna](/source/University_of_Vienna) in 1926, and then specialized in [psychiatry](/source/psychiatry) at the University of Vienna Neuropsychiatric Hospital. In 1934, Adler ran a child guidance center, where she remained in charge until Nazis shut the center down.[{{Cite journal|title=Women neuropsychiatrists on Wagner-Jauregg’s staff in Vienna at the time of the Nobel award: ordeal and fortitude|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X19861515|journal=History of Psychiatry|date=2019-12-01|issn=0957-154X|pages=393–408|volume=30|issue=4|doi=10.1177/0957154X19861515|language=EN|first=Lazaros C|last=Triarhou|url-access=subscription}}] She emigrated to the United States in 1935, where she worked as a neurology instructor at the [Harvard Medical School](/source/Harvard_Medical_School).[{{Cite web|date=2001-01-18|title=Alexandra Adler, 99, was one of Harvard's first women neurologists|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2001/01/alexandra-adler-99-was-one-of-harvards-first-women-neurologists/|access-date=2021-04-09|website=Harvard Gazette|language=en-US}}] She was noted as one of Harvard's first women neurologists[{{Cite web |last=gazetteimport |date=2001-01-18 |title=Alexandra Adler, 99, was one of Harvard's first women neurologists |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2001/01/alexandra-adler-99-was-one-of-harvards-first-women-neurologists/ |access-date=2026-05-20 |website=Harvard Gazette |language=en-US}}]. Also in 1935, she established the Journal of Psychology. In 1938, Adler became the medical director of the Alfred Adler Clinic, named after her father.[{{Cite web|url=https://feministvoices.com/profiles/alexandra-adler|title=Feminist Voices - Alexandra Adler|website=Feminist Voices}}]
== Medical studies ==
thumb|Harvard Medical School quadrangle in Longwood Medical Area
From 1928 to 1938, Alexandra Adler conducted an investigation of known cases of encephalitis or encephalomyelitis at the Boston City Hospital. The study included over 100 patients. Patients were only admitted if encephalitis was the sole illness of the individual. The aim of the study was to contribute knowledge for these diseases.[{{Cite journal |last=ADLER |first=ALEXANDRA |date=1943-12-25 |title=NEUROPSYCHIATRIC COMPLICATIONS IN VICTIMS OF BOSTON'S COCOANUT GROVE DISASTER |url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/265569 |journal=Journal of the American Medical Association |volume=123 |issue=17 |pages=1098–1101 |doi=10.1001/jama.1943.02840520014004 |issn=0002-9955|url-access=subscription }}] it was found that survivors were only recognizing parts of what happened. It was theorized that this was due to the stress or a possible lesion in the brain due to carbon monoxide exposure. Adler became one of the first neurologists to create a detailed documentation of what is known as [post-traumatic stress disorder](/source/post-traumatic_stress_disorder).[{{Cite web|title=Biography of Alexandra Adler|url=https://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/about/heritage/alexandra-adler-biography|access-date=2021-03-14|website=www.apadivisions.org|language=en}}] Her findings allowed her to apply what she discovered to work with treatment for World War II Veterans, who potentially had PTSD.[{{Cite web |date=2001-01-13 |title=Dr. Alexandra Adler, 99, a neurologist and… |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2001/01/13/dr-alexandra-adler-99-a-neurologist-and/ |access-date=2025-10-20 |website=Baltimore Sun |language=en-US}}]
In the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, Adler continued her father's work of Adlerian psychology for possible treatments for schizophrenia, neuroses, and personality disorders. She believed this could be done through modern drug treatment, group therapy, and the existentialist and religious psychotherapies.[{{Cite web |last=gazetteimport |date=2001-01-18 |title=Alexandra Adler, 99, was one of Harvard's first women neurologists |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2001/01/alexandra-adler-99-was-one-of-harvards-first-women-neurologists/ |access-date=2025-10-08 |website=Harvard Gazette |language=en-US}}]
She lived till the age of 99. She died on January 4, 2001, in New York City.