Joseph Berke

Early years

He studied at Columbia College of Columbia University and graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He moved to London in 1965 where Berke worked with R. D. Laing in the 1960s when the Philadelphia Association was set up, and was resident at Kingsley Hall, where he helped Mary Barnes, a nurse who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, to emerge from madness. Barnes later became a famous artist, writer and mystic. A stage play based on the book that Berke and Barnes wrote together (Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey Through Madness) was adapted as a stage play by David Edgar. A film adaptation of the book is currently under consideration. Berke collaborated on a number of projects with Laing, including the Dialectics of Liberation international conference in London, 15–30 July 1967, where Berke was the principal organizer. Berke currently works as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist for Individuals and Families. He is the Co-founder of the Arbours Association in London in 1970, and the Founder and Director of the Arbours Crisis Centre (1973-2010) London.

Books

Berke is the author of many articles and books on psychological, social, political and religious themes, including:

His recent books include: Malice Through the Looking Glass (2009) 2nd Edition, London: Teva Publications Centers of Power: The Convergence of Psychoanalysis and Kabbalah (with Stanley Schneider)(2008) NY: Jason Aronson Why I Hate You and You Hate Me: The Interplay of Envy, Greed, Jealousy and Narcissism (2013) London: Karnac Books and The Hidden Freud: His Hassidic Roots (2015) London: Karnac Books