# Isaac Marks

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**Isaac Meyer Marks** (born 1935 in [Cape Town](/source/Cape_Town), [South Africa](/source/South_Africa)) is a British-South African psychiatrist. He trained in medicine in South Africa, qualifying in 1956. His training as a psychiatrist began in 1960 at the [University of London](/source/University_of_London) (at the [Bethlem](/source/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital)-[Maudsley Hospital](/source/Maudsley_Hospital)) and was completed in 1963.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] In 1971, he was a founder Member of the [Royal College of Psychiatrists](/source/Royal_College_of_Psychiatrists), and in 1976 he was elected a Fellow.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Between 1964 and 2000, he conducted clinical research at the [Institute of Psychiatry](/source/Institute_of_Psychiatry),[1] [University of London](/source/University_of_London), and the Bethlem-Maudsley Hospital. He collaborated with the Chief Nursing Officer there, [Eileen Skellern](/source/Eileen_Skellern), to develop an innovative course for nurses in behavioural psychotherapy, which started in 1973.[2] He became Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the Institute in 1968, and Professor of Experimental Psychopathology in 1978. In 2000, he became Professor Emeritus.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

From 2000-2003, he ran a computer-aided self-help clinic at [Imperial College](/source/Imperial_College), London, where he was a visiting professor. He is now also honorary professor at the [Free University of Amsterdam](/source/Vrije_Universiteit).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Marks' research included the treatment of [anxiety](/source/Anxiety), [phobic](/source/Phobia), [obsessive-compulsive](/source/OCD) and [sexual](/source/Sexual_dysfunction) disorders; interactions between drugs and [behavioral psychotherapy](/source/Behavioral_psychotherapy); development of a nurse behavioral psychotherapist training program (in relation to which he coined the term 'barefoot therapist', modelled on [Mao Zedong](/source/Mao_Zedong)'s term [Barefoot Doctor](/source/Barefoot_doctors)); community care of serious mental illness; health care and cost-effectiveness evaluation; and electroshock [conversion therapy](/source/Conversion_therapy).[3] He has developed computer aids both to evaluate treatment outcome and for self-help - matters which continue to be a central interest.

He was also instrumental in the creation of the self-help organisation Triumph Over Phobia and was a founding member of the [BABCP](/source/BABCP).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] He is married to [Shula Marks](/source/Shula_Marks).

## Writings

- Living with Fear: Understanding and Coping with Anxiety (1978) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-07-040396-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-07-040396-1)

- Cure and Care of Neuroses (1988) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-88048-162-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-88048-162-5)

- The Practice of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (foreword) (1991) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-521-41741-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-41741-4)

- Hands-on Help: Computer-aided Psychotherapy (2007) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84169-679-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84169-679-9)

- Fears, Phobias, and Rituals: Panic, Anxiety, and Their Disorders (1987) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-503927-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-503927-0)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Portrait of Isaac Marks unveiled Annabel Ferriman BMJ 2003;326:784, [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1136/bmj.326.7393.784/a](https://doi.org/10.1136%2Fbmj.326.7393.784%2Fa)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [David H. Russell, ‘Skellern, (Flora) Eileen (1923–1980)’, *Oxford Dictionary of National Biography*, Oxford University Press, 2004](http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/61786)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Bancroft, John; Marks, Isaac (1968). ["Treatment of Sexual Deviations"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1902433). *Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine*. **61** (8): 796–799. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1177/003591576806100827](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F003591576806100827). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [1902433](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1902433). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [5673410](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5673410). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [191676757](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:191676757).

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