Bruce Dohrenwend

Dohrenwend graduated from Columbia College (New York) in 1950, and the next year earned an M.A. in social psychology at Columbia University. In 1955 he received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in social psychology. Before starting college he served in the United States Navy (1945-1946).

In 1955 Dohrenwend worked under Alexander H. Leighton on the Stirling County Study, which was a community-based study of mental health in a Canadian fishing community. In 1958 he joined the Columbia University faculty and began his research on the Washington Heights Community Health Project. He remained on the active faculty until 2020, when he retired. Before retiring he was the Foundations Fund for Research in Psychiatry Professor, an endowed chair. Dohrenwend also had an appointment as Research Scientist, and later Chief of the Division of Social Psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, which is located at the Columbia Medical School campus.

In the early 1960s he and Barbara Snell Dohrenwend, a social and community psychologist who was also his wife, collaborated on a research program that focused on measuring psychopathology and stressful life events in community settings. Their collaboration led to the publication of dozens of articles, two coauthored monographs and two edited books. For their work they were jointly presented the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Community Psychology and Community Mental Health from division 27 of the American Psychological Association (1980),{{Cite journal |last=Dohrenwend |first=Bruce P. |last2=Dohrenwend |first2=Barbara Snell |last3=Zubin |first3=Joseph |last4=Levav |first4=I. |date=April 1981 |title=The 1980 division 27 award for distinguished contributions to community psychology and community mental health: Barbara Snell Dohrenwend and Bruce P. Dohrenwend |journal=American Journal of Community Psychology |language=en |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=123–164 |doi=10.1007/bf00896364 |issn=0091-0562}} and the Rema Lapouse Mental Health Epidemiology Award from the American Public Health Association (1981). Dr. Barbara Dohrenwend died in 1982.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/02/obituaries/barbara-dohrenwend-epidemiologist-is-dead.html |title=Barbara Dohrenwend, Epidemiologist, Is Dead |date=1982-07-02 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-09-14 |language=en}}

Following the Three-Mile Island nuclear reactor meltdown in March 1979, Bruce Dohrenwend was asked to chair a federal task force focused on the effects of stress experienced by workers and residents in the vicinity of the reactor. The group documented that mental stress caused by miscommunication of government and regulatory agencies was a serious consequence of the accident, despite the actual containment of radiation{{cite journal |last1=Dohrenwend |first1=Bruce P.

|date=1983 |title=Psychological Implications of Nuclear Accidents: The Case of Three Mile Island

|url= |journal=Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine

|volume=59 |issue=10 |pages=1060–1076 |doi= |access-date=}}.

Dohrenwend continued in the 1980s to advance his program of research that focused on causal mechanisms that explained the onset of psychopathology. He used a quasi-experimental design to show in 1991 that some disorders were more likely to be caused by stress processes, whereas other disorders were more likely to be caused by selection processes consistent with genetic factors. His report of this finding, published in Science,{{cite journal

|last1=Dohrenwend |first1=Bruce P.

|last2=Levav |first2=Itzhak

|last3=Shrout |first3=Patrick E.

|last4=Schwartz |first4=Sharon

|last5=Naveh |first5=Guedalia

|last6=Link |first6=Bruce G.

|last7=Skodol |first7=Andrew E.

|last8=Stueve |first8=Ann

|year= 1992

|title=Socioeconomic Status and Psychiatric Disorders: The Causation-Selection Issue

|journal= Science |volume= 255 |issue= 5047 |pages=946–952

|publisher=

|url=

|access-date=

}} received the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1990 Prize for Behavioral Science Research.{{cite web

|url= https://www.aaas.org/archives/aaas-prize-behavioral-science-research

|title= AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research

|author= AAAS

|date=

|website=

|publisher=

|access-date= October 1, 2023

}}

Dohrenwend also developed a model of the genesis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among persons engaged in combat or who were in the vicinity of combat. Dohrenwend was specifically concerned with persons who had no predisposition for psychopathology but who were exposed to combat-related events that were markedly different from usual human experience.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/23/AR2007082300766.html |title=Battle Continues Over Vietnam PTSD Numbers |last=Gardner |first=Amanda |date=2007-08-23 |work=The Washington Post |access-date=2018-09-14 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/americas/18iht-vietnam.2528889.html |title=Study lowers rate of post-Vietnam stress disorder|last=Carey |first=Benedict |date=2006-08-18 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-09-14 |language=en}}{{cite journal

|last1=Dohrenwend |first1=Bruce P.

|last2=Yager |first2=Thomas J.

|last3=Wall |first3=Melanie M.

|last4=Adams |first4=Ben G.

|date=2013

|title=The Roles of Combat Exposure, Personal Vulnerability and Involvement in Harm to Civilians or Prisoners in Vietnam War-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

|url=

|journal=Clinical Psychological Science

|volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=223–238 |doi= |access-date=}}

In addition to his many scientific contributions, Dohrenwend was an active educator and mentor. In 1972 he established the Columbia University Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program, which funded and trained scores of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from a variety of disciplines. This training program emphasizes "a framework for investigating the etiology, course, and consequences of mental illness that highlights the dynamic interplay of multiple levels, that is, a person (biology, psychology), in context (family, social network, neighborhood, workplace, society) through time (person and contextual change)."{{cite web

| url = https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/academics/departments/epidemiology/educational-programs/doctoral-training-programs/psychiatric-epidemiology

| title = Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program

| access-date = 3 March 2025}}

In addition to the joint awards with Barbara Snell Dohrenwend, Bruce Dohrenwend was asked to serve as president of the American Psychopathological Association in 1994,{{cite web

| url = https://www.appassn.org/presidents-of-the-appa

| title = Presidents of the American Psychopathological Association

| access-date = 9 December 2023}} and he received the following awards from professional organizations: Hamilton Award (1994) and Zubin Award (2008) from the American Psychopathological Association;{{cite web

| url =https://www.appassn.org/awards

| title =American Psychopathological Association Awards

| access-date = 9 December 2023}} Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychiatric Sociology, Society for the Study of Social Problems (1994); Leo G. Reeder Award for a Distinguished Career from the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association (1999);

{{cite web

| url =https://www.asanet.org/communities-and-sections/sections/current-sections/medical-sociology-section-award-recipient-history/

| title =American Sociology Association Awards

| access-date = 9 December 2023}} Harvard Award for Outstanding Contributions and Lifetime Commitment to Psychiatric Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health (2004); In 2007 the Mental Health Section of the American Sociological Association gave Dohrenwend and his coauthors the award for best 2006 publication for the article titled “The Psychological Risks of Vietnam for U.S. Veterans: A Revisit with New Data and Methods,” Science, 2006, 313, 979-982.{{cite web

| url =https://www.kent.edu/sociology/award-best-publication-mental-health

| title =American Sociological Association Awards Mental Health Section Awards

| access-date = 9 December 2023}}

Dohrenwend died on January 4, 2025, at the age of 97.{{Cite web |title=BRUCE DOHRENWEND Obituary (2025) - New York, NY - New York Times |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/bruce-dohrenwend-obituary?id=57575114 |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=Legacy.com}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Dohrenwend| first1 = Bruce P.

| last2 = Dohrenwend | first2 = Barbara S.

| author-link = Bruce P. Dohrenwend

| title = Social Status and Psychological Disorder: A Causal Inquiry

| publisher = Wiley

| date = 1969

| location = New York}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Dohrenwend| first1 = Bruce P.

| last2 = Dohrenwend| first2 = Barbara Snell

|last3 = Gould |first3 = Madelyn Schwartz |last4= Link |first4 = Bruce |last5 = Neugebauer |first5= Richard |last6= Wunsch-Hitzig |first6 = Robin

| author-link = Bruce P. Dohrenwend

| title = Mental Illness in the United States: Epidemiologic Estimates

| publisher = Praeger

| date = 1980

| location = New York}}

• {{cite book

| last = Dohrenwend| first = Bruce P.

| author-link = Bruce P. Dohrenwend

| title = Adversity, Stress and Psychopathology

| publisher = Oxford

| date = 1998

| location = New York}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Dohrenwend| first1 = Bruce P.

| last2 = Turse |first2 = Nick |last3 = Yager |first3 = Thomas J. |last4 = Wall |first4 = Melanie M.

| author-link = Bruce P. Dohrenwend

| title = Surviving Vietnam: The Psychological Consequences of the War for U.S. Veterans

| publisher = Oxford

| date = 2019

| location = New York}}

• {{cite journal

| last1 = Dohrenwend| first1 = Bruce P.

| date = 1983

| title = Psychological Implications of Nuclear Accidents: The Case of Three Mile Island

| journal = Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine

| volume = 59 |issue = 10 | pages = 1060–1076}}

• {{cite journal

| last1 = Dohrenwend| first1 = Bruce P.

| last2 = Shrout |first2 = Patrick E. |last3 = Egri |first3 = Gladys |last4 = Mendelsohn |first4 = Frederick S.

| date = 1980

| title = Nonspecific psychological distress and other dimensions of psychopathology: Measures for use in the general population

| journal = Archives of General Psychiatry

| volume = 37 |issue = 11 | pages = 1129–1236}}

• {{cite journal

| last1 = Dohrenwend| first1 = Bruce P.

| last2 = Levav |first2 = Itzhak |last3= Shrout |first3 = Patrick E. |last4 = Schwartz |first4 = Sharon |last5 = Naveh |first5 = Guedalia |last6 = Link |first6 = Bruce G. |last7 = Skodol |first7 = Andrew E. |last8 = Stueve |first8 = Ann

| date = 1992

| title = Socioeconomic status and psychiatric disorders: the causation-selection issue

| journal = Science

| volume = 255 |issue = 5047 | pages = 946–952}}

• {{cite journal

| last1 = Dohrenwend| first1 = Bruce P.

| last2 = Turner |first2 = J. Blake |last3 = Turse |first3 = Nicholas A. |last4 = Adams |first4 = Ben G.|last5 = Koenen |first5 = Karestan C.|last6 = Marshall |first6 = Randall

| date = 2006

| title = The psychological risks of Vietnam for US veterans: a revisit with new data and methods

| journal = Science

| volume = 313 |issue = 5789 | pages = 979–982}}

• {{cite journal

| last1 = Dohrenwend| first1 = Bruce P.

| last2 = Yager |first2 = Thomas J. |last3 = Wall |first3 = Melanie M. |last4 = Adams |first4 = Ben G.

| date = 2013

| title = The roles of combat exposure, personal vulnerability, and involvement in harm to civilians or prisoners in Vietnam war-related posttraumatic stress disorder

| journal = Clinical Psychological Science

| volume = 1 |issue = 3 | pages = 223–238}}

{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dohrenwend, Bruce Philip}}

Category:1927 births

Category:2025 deaths

Category:Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health faculty

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:American psychiatrists

Category:American epidemiologists

{{US-psychiatrist-stub}}