New York State Psychiatric Institute

Coordinates: 40°50′33″N 73°56′40″W / 40.84250°N 73.94444°W

Herbert Pardes Building

Kolb Research Labs

The New York State Psychiatric Institute, located in the Columbia University Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was established in 1895 as one of the first institutions in the United States to integrate teaching, research and therapeutic approaches to the care of patients with mental illnesses. In 1925, the Institute affiliated with Presbyterian Hospital, now New York-Presbyterian Hospital, adding general hospital facilities to the Institute's psychiatric services and research laboratories.

Through the years, distinguished figures in American psychiatry have served as directors of the Psychiatric Institute, including Drs. Ira Van Gieson, Adolph Meyer, August Hoch, Lawrence Kolb, Edward Sachar and Herbert Pardes. The current director is Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman.

Buildings

The Institute has two buildings: the Herbert Pardes Building at 1051 Riverside Drive was built in 1998 and was designed by Peter Pran and Ellerbe Becket.^[1] It is connected by walkway bridges to the high-rise Lawrence G. Kolb Research Laboratory at 50 Haven Avenue at West 168th Street, built in 1987 and designed by Herbert W. Reimer.^[1]

Death of Harold Blauer

In 1953, Harold Blauer, a patient undergoing treatment for depression at the Institute, died following an injection of the amphetamine MDA given without his permission as part of a U.S. Army experiment. The United States and New York state governments and the Psychiatric Institute attempted to cover up the incident, a fact accidentally discovered in 1975 during a Congressional inquiry on an unrelated matter. In 1987 a federal judge ordered the government to pay US$700,000 in compensation to Blauer's surviving daughter.^[2]

References

Notes

1. White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010), AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.), New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195383867, pp.565-66
2. Lubasch, Arnold (6 May 1987). "Death of Harold Blaeur". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2015.

Bibliography

• Levy, Eric, "The New York State Psychiatric Institute: Revolutionizing The Study of Mental Illness", P&S Journal, Fall 2003, Columbia University (website archived 2008)

External links

• The New York State Psychiatric Institute
• History of NYSPI, Columbia Psychiatry Department website