An Interview with Robert L. Spitzer, MD

Abstract

The Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy has been publishing a series of biographical interviews of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who have made important contributions to psychiatric attitudes about gay and lesbian patients and toward enhancing the lives of gay and lesbian therapists. Robert L. Spitzer, MD, has had a profound impact on both groups. As a junior member of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Committee on Nomenclature, Dr. Spitzer helped shepherd a process that led to the 1973 removal of the diagnosis of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Dr. Spitzer is Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University, and Chief of the Biometrics Research Department at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He has achieved national and international recognition as an authority in psychiatric assessment and the