MILLER, LOUIS

MILLER, LOUIS (1917–1988), Israeli psychiatrist. Born in Somerset West, South Africa, he went to Israel in 1948 and established psychiatric and psychological services in the Israeli army and air force. In 1949 Miller became director of psychiatry in Israel's Ministry of Health, where he planned and initiated its regional hospital and community services. In 1954 he entered the field of public health and developed a family health and community organization program for the Jerusalem region. In 1959 he returned to his post of director of Mental Health Services, and in 1970 became chief national psychiatrist. In 1966–67, as visiting professor at Northwestern University, he planned and initiated a community mental health program in Chicago for the State of Illinois. His contributions to mental health theory, research, and practice were concerned particularly with the effects of socio-cultural and community influences on mental health and ill health and its treatment. He integrated this approach with the biological and psychological interpretations of personality. His publications include studies concerning the incidence of psychiatric conditions in various cultures in Israel, immigration and mental health, child rearing on the kibbutz and among Tripolitanian Jews, aging, urbanization, and social change. He was chairman of the National Committee for the Study of Drug Abuse and the Encyclopaedia Judaica (first edition) departmental editor for Jews in psychiatry.