John Gordon Clark

Infobox_Scientist
name = John Gordon Clark


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birth_date = 1926
birth_place = United States
death_date = 1999
death_place = Vermont, United States
residence = United States
nationality = American
field = psychiatry
work_institution = Harvard University
alma_mater = Harvard Medical School, M.D.
McAlester College, B.S.
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = research on cults
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prizes = Leo J. Ryan Award, 1985
Psychiatrist of the Year, "Psychiatric Times", 1991
religion =
footnotes =

John Gordon Clark (1926 – 1999) was a Harvard psychiatrist and authority in research on the alleged damaging effects of cults [Dr. John Clark, 73, Psychiatrist was authority on danger of cults, Tom Long, Globe Staff, 10/09/99, The Boston Globe] .

He was the target of harassment from Scientologists after he testified against them to the Vermont congress in 1976. [John Clark, 73, Psychiatrist Who Studied Sects, "New York Times", October 18, 1999, Eric Nagourney
The Church of Scientology objected strongly to Clark's assertions, and the church and Clark battled in court. Clark said the church had engaged in a campaign of harassment against him. In 1988, he settled with the church and received an undisclosed amount of money, but agreed never to discuss the group publicly again.]

His similarly harassed colleague Louis Jolyon West remarked: "I was lucky that I was a full-time professor in a big university like UCLA. Others, like Harvard's Jack Clark. who was primarily in private practice, nearly had their lives ruined by the Scientologists." ("Psychiatric Times", 1991)

In 1985, John G. Clark received the Leo J. Ryan Award, named for the California congressman murdered in Jonestown.

The "Psychiatric Times", when naming him 1991 psychiatrist of the year, described him as "a quiet, courageous man of conviction, who was fighting an all-too-lonely and unappreciated battle against well-financed, ruthless organizations."

Works

* Testimony of John Clark regarding cults Read on 3rd November 1977 by Leo J. Ryan to the United States House of Representatives [http://www.lermanet.com/house/destructive.htm ]
* Clark, John G. "Cults." Journal of the American Medical Association. 242, 279-281. 1979
* Clark, J.G., et al.: "Destructive cult conversion." Weston, MA: American Family Foundation. 1981
* Clark, John G.: "On the further study of destructive cultism." In Halperin (ed.), 363-368 1983
* Langone, Michael D. and John G. Clark, Jr.: New religions and public policy: research implications for social and behavioural scientists Weston (MA.): American Family Foundation 1983

Awards

*Leo J. Ryan Award, 1985
*Psychiatrist of the year, "The Psychiatric Times", 1991

See also

* John G. Clark Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Cultic Studies

References

External links

* [http://www.csj.org/infoserv_profile/clark_john.htm Obituaries on John Clark]
* [http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/psychiatric-times-1991.htm Prozac frees Ex-Scientology Leader from Depression] , The Psychiatric Times, Volume VIII, June 1991

Persondata
NAME= Clark, John Gordon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= American psychiatrist
DATE OF BIRTH= 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH= United States
DATE OF DEATH= 1999
PLACE OF DEATH= Vermont, United States