Slavson, Samuel Richard
SLAVSON, SAMUEL RICHARD
SLAVSON, SAMUEL RICHARD (1891–1981), U.S. group psychotherapy expert. Born in the Ukraine, Slavson arrived in New York with his family after escaping the pogroms in Russia. Working by day, he attended evening school at the Cooper Union, where he received a B.S. in engineering. He became a member of the Socialist Party in 1904, which led to his involvement with the labor movement. He was a key figure in the formation of the *International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Slavson was departmental director of New York's progressive Walter School from 1918 to 1921 and from 1921 to 1927 he was educational consultant of the Pioneer Youth of America. In 1927 he became director of research in child psychology at Malting House, Cambridge, England. In 1929 he returned to the United States and was consultant to a number of agencies dealing with problem children. In 1934 he became director of group psychotherapy at the Board of Jewish Guardians in New York, where he introduced group treatment for emotionally disturbed children. A pivotal figure in modern psychology and psychoanalysis, Slavson retired from that position in 1956. His Introduction to Group Therapy (1943) describes his principles, processes, and methods, as well as his criteria for accepting disturbed children for group therapy. Slavson was president of the American Group Psychotherapy Association (1943–45), and editor-in-chief of the journal Group Psychotherapy. From 1956 on, he continued to work and formulate new theories regarding the treatment of delinquent adolescents and institutionalized psychotics. He also wrote and lectured extensively.
His books include Science in the New Education (with Robert K. Speer, 1934), Creative Group Education (1937), Recreation of the Total Personality (1946), The Practice of Group Therapy (1947), Analytic Group Psychotherapy (1950), Child-Centered Group Guidance of Parents (1958), A Textbook in Analytic Group Psychotherapy (1964), and Reclaiming the Delinquent by Para-analytic Group Psychotherapy and the Inversion Technique (1965).