GINOTT, HAIM G.

GINOTT, HAIM G. (1922–1973), U.S. psychologist. Ginott was born in Tel Aviv but immigrated to the United States, where he received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1952. He specialized in group psychotherapy, especially with children, practicing as chief clinical psychologist at the Child Guidance Clinic at Jacksonville, Florida, from 1952 to 1960 and lecturing at Jacksonville University from 1955 to 1958. In 1960 he was appointed an adjunct associate professor and supervisor of child psychotherapy at New York University. In 1966 he was appointed associate clinical professor in the postdoctoral program at Adelphi University in Garden City, Long Island, n.y. He served as unesco expert in guidance and counseling to the government of Israel from 1965 to 1966.

Ginott was best known for his practical and commonsense approach to child psychotherapy. In his Group Psychotherapy with Children (1961), he stressed the importance of the details of play therapy, such as the selection of children, how to equip a playroom, etc. Nor did he overlook the parent, including the screening of the parents of prospective clients and ways of conducting parent guidance groups. He addressed himself to those colleagues who "knew about Oedipus and Electra, but were puzzled when confronted with children's incestuous approaches; they knew about transference and resistance, but had difficulty in transferring a resisting child from the waiting room to the playroom."

From 1967 Ginott devoted himself to writing authoritative books for the nonspecialist, and his Between Parent and Child (1967) made him the public's favorite expert on child psychology. His later books dealt with the teenager (Between Parent and Adolescent, 1969) and the school-age child (Teacher and Child, 1972).

bibliography:

G.D. Goldman and G. Stricker (eds.), Practical Problems of a Private Psychotherapy Practice (1972).

[Helmut E. Adler (2^nd ed.)]