Lightner Witmer
American psychologist who founded a pioneering psychological clinic
American psychologist who opened a psychological clinic for children at the University of Pennsylvania in 1896, used the term clinical psychology that year and founded the journal The Psychological Clinic in 1907.
Why this person matters
Witmer's clinic examined children who struggled at school and gave individual advice to families and teachers. It is cited as a starting point of clinical and school psychology. His support for sterilisation and his limited recognition are part of the record.
Main contributions
The Penn psychological clinic
The clinic's work began in March 1896 with a 14-year-old pupil who was a chronic bad speller, brought by the teacher Margaret Maguire. Children received physical and mental examinations, with referral to medical specialists when needed, and then a recommended medical and pedagogical treatment.
'Clinical Psychology' and the journal
In 1896 he used and defined the term 'clinical psychology' in a paper to the American Psychological Association. In 1907 he founded The Psychological Clinic, whose first issue likened the clinical psychologist to a physician and treated each treatment as a way to learn cause and effect.
Residential schools and speech clinic
In 1908 he set up a small residential school near Wallingford, Pennsylvania, followed by a larger one in Devon. In 1914 he founded a speech clinic, described as the first in the world.
Context and limits
Witmer supported a 1911 Pennsylvania bill to sterilise severely developmentally disabled people. He criticised intelligence tests, is described as blunt and argumentative, and gained little recognition outside clinical psychology. Sources differ on whether his was the first psychological clinic in the world or the first in the United States.
In your introductory course
Treatment and therapy.Appears in the therapy and history chapters as the usual starting point for clinical psychology in the United States.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 16.1. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1892
Received his PhD under Wundt at Leipzig.
- 1896
Opened the University of Pennsylvania psychological clinic.
- 1907
Founded The Psychological Clinic and published 'Clinical Psychology' in its first issue.
- 1914
Founded a speech clinic.
Sources
- Classics in the History of Psychology (York University), Witmer, Clinical Psychology (1907)Original work. Text passages inspected.
- New World Encyclopedia, Lightner WitmerReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Lightner WitmerReference work. Reference article inspected.