ARTICLE
The scientific path of Jakub Frostig in the light of his correspondence with the leading representatives of world psychiatry – from psychoanalysis and phenomenological approach to biological psychiatry. Part 2. Towards biological psychiatry
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Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny, Katedra i Klinika Psychiatrii
Submission date: 2019-05-08
Final revision date: 2020-01-17
Acceptance date: 2020-03-28
Online publication date: 2021-06-30
Publication date: 2021-06-30
Psychiatr Pol 2021;55(3):643-657
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ABSTRACT
In the second part of the article devoted to Jakub Frostig (1896–1959), his research from the 1930s on insulin coma treatment is presented in a broader context. Frostig began his research in the psychiatric hospital Zofiówka in Otwock and continued after his emigration to the United States. Thanks to new sources, we managed to determine the reasons underlying Frostig’s departure from Poland. At the end of the 1930s, the issue of emigration became a necessity for him, saving his life and his family. Frostig was well aware of the political atmosphere at the time and the threats that followed. The inability to make a scientific career in Poland was the first impulse to look for a job abroad. After taking over the post of director of Zofiówka in 1933, this factor ceased to be decisive. The feeling of danger born on the wave of European anti-Semitism, especially in Germany, after Hitler came to power, came to the fore. Efforts to obtain awork permit in Switzerland and Australia proved unsuccessful. Eventually, just before the outbreak of World War II, Frostig managed to emigrate to the USA, where he concentrated on popularizing the treatment of psychiatric disorders with insulin comas in the local psychiatric environment. He did not accomplish a scientific career in the USA as he intended. His life story came full circle, and just as in the first years of his professional career in Lviv, he was forced to switch to a private practice. Despite the difficulties mentioned above, Frostig played a significant role in Polish psychiatry and greatly contributed to its development.