Doidge, Norman

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Doidge, Norman

PERSONAL:

Education: Attended the University of Toronto; holds a degree in medicine; Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, degrees in psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Toronto, Ontario, Canada; New York, NY. Office—Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center, 1051 Riverside Dr., New York, NY 10032. Agent—Chris Calhoun, Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc., 65 Bleecker St., New York, NY, 10012.

CAREER:

Psychiatrist, researcher, and writer. Books in Canada—The Canadian Review of Books, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, editor-in-chief, 1995-98; NationalPost, Toronto, Canada, author of column "On Human Nature," 1998-2001; University of Toronto, Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto, head of the psychotherapy centre and the assessment clinic, and instructor in philosophy, political science, law, and psychiatry; Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, New York, NY, member of research faculty.

MEMBER:

American College of Psychoanalysts.

AWARDS, HONORS:

E.J. Pratt Prize for poetry; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Saturday Night Literary Award, for an unpublished work, 1994; four Canadian National Magazine gold awards, including the National Magazine Award President's Medal for the best article published in Canada, 2000; research fellow, Columbia-National Institute of Mental Health; clinical fellow, department of psychiatry, Columbia University; U.S. National Psychiatric Endowment Award in psychiatry; CORST Prize in Psychoanalysis and Culture, American Psychoanalytic Association; M. Prados Prize, Canadian Psychoanalytic Association.

WRITINGS:

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, Viking (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Saturday Night, Reader's Digest, Time, Maclean's, Gravitas, Books in Canada, Medical Post, Melbourne Age, Weekly Standard, and the Chicago Sun-Times.

SIDELIGHTS:

Norman Doidge started writing poetry at a young age and won accolades early in his career, including the E.J. Pratt Prize for poetry when he was just nineteen years old. He went on to study classics and philosophy at the University of Toronto, and then earned his medical degree to eventually become a psychiatrist. He splits his time between New York City, where he serves as part of the research faculty at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, and Toronto, where he heads up the Psychotherapy Centre and the Assessment Clinic for the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry and also serves on the teaching faculty at the University of Toronto. He is the author of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, which looks at modern improvements and theories in the field of neuroscience, focusing in particular on the ways in which the brain alters in response to illness or injury in an effort to adapt itself and continue functioning on the highest possible level. In addition, Doidge takes his study deeper, considering ways in which people might alter their brains consciously through the choices they make. The book covers a variety of circumstances, including the effects of stroke and ongoing pain, and the effects of such mental stimuli as pornography. Ronald Pies, in a review for the Psychiatric Times, praised Doidge's effort, remarking: "Doidge is a fine writer, and his book has a lucid and engaging style. The text is thoroughly referenced, and most of the scientific claims are well substantiated." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews found that the book was "somewhat scattershot, but Doidge's personal stories, enthusiasm for his subject and admiration for its researchers keep the reader engaged."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Book World, March 4, 2007, Elizabeth Williamson, review of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, p. 11.

California Bookwatch, June, 2007, review of The Brain That Changes Itself.

Humanist, July 1, 2007, Kenneth W. Krause, review of The Brain That Changes Itself, p. 45.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2006, review of The Brain That Changes Itself, p. 1254.

Library Journal, February 15, 2007, Mary Ann Hughes, review of The Brain That Changes Itself, p. 135.

O, the Oprah Magazine, May, 2007, Kathryn Matthews, "Romance Rehab: Can a Woman Learn to Kick the Bad-Man Habit? Can a Playboy Ever Be Trusted to Settle Down? Yes! and New Brain Research Shows How," p. 205.

Psychiatric Times, August 1, 2007, review of The Brain That Changes Itself, p. 57.

Publishers Weekly, December 4, 2006, review of The Brain That Changes Itself, p. 45.