About the Author

Kazimierz Dabrowski (September 1, 1902-November 26, 1980) was a psychologist, psychiatrist, educator, and prolific writer, publishing over 30 books and 250 papers in various languages during his lifetime. He received degrees in medicine (University of Geneva, 1929) and psychology (Poznan, 1931), certificates in psychoanalysis (under Wilhelm Stekel in Vienna, 1934) and public health (Harvard University, 1934), and habilitations in children's psychotherapy (University of Geneva, 1934) and psychiatry (University of Wroclaw, 1948), among other honours and achievements. In addition to Stekel, Dabrowski studied under some of the most prominent figures in his field, both in Poland and abroad, including Jean Piaget, Pierre Janet, Édouard Claparède, and Stefan Blachowski. In 1935 he founded the Institute of Mental Hygiene in Warsaw, Poland, which he directed until 1948. Under Nazi occupation, he and his colleagues used the facility to hide Polish resistance soldiers, refugees, doctors and priests involved in the underground movement. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1942. In 1950, the communist authorities arrested him and his wife, and he was incarcerated for 18 months. After his release, strict restraints were placed on his activities until he was declared 'rehabilitated' in 1956. Throughout his career he taught and lectured at many universities around the world, including a professorship in experimental psychology at Warsaw in 1956 and, from 1964 on, the position of Professor and Director of Clinical Research and Internship at the University of Alberta. He also served as Visiting Professor at Laval University in Quebec from 1968. He passed away in Warsaw in 1980 after suffering a heart attack in 1979.