Professor Arthur H. Crisp (Westminster Medical School 1956)

Provided by Irene and Tim Crisp

Arthur was appointed Professor of Psychiatry at St George's Hospital Medical School in 1967 and it was from there and the Atkinson Morley Hospital that he built up a thriving Department of Psychiatry and an extensive clinical service for patients with eating disorders.  Arthur had obtained his medical degree only 11 years before being appointed to the St George's Chair.

He had an international reputation for clinical research in the field of anorexia nervosa, whose psychopathology, aetiology and pathogenesis he determined. His statement that its core pathonomonic feature is a phobic avoidance of normal body weight has stood the test of time.

In 1991, Arthur conducted and published a key clinical trial, demonstrating the value of a specialist eating disorder unit in benefiting anorexic patients. Until his retirement in 1995 he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at St George's Hospital Medical School and Vice-President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Arthur wrote a prodigious number of research papers. A colleague once observed that whatever subject he thought of within eating disorders, Arthur was sure to have already written a paper on it. But there is no doubt that he considered his most important work to be his explanatory model of the origins of anorexia nervosa, explaining the paradox of a vulnerable young girl responding to the upheavals of puberty by seeking refuge in loss of weight and anorexia nervosa: "As the anorectic rapidly regresses into her re-acquired simpler existence, she experiences a sense of renewed control over her destiny and a renewed experience of safety."

Arthur was the Editor of the British Journal of Medical Psychology; chairman of the London Professors of Psychiatry and chairman of the GMC's Education Committee. He was a visiting professor in various universities including Harvard and Sydney; and an external examiner in universities around the world. He was WHO advisor on medical education and advised the Governments of China and of Japan.
 
He achieved far more than purely clinical and research contributions to eating disorders; he led the Royal College of Psychiatrist's campaign against the stigma of mental illness. The title of his book Every Family in the Land indicated that most families experience one of its members developing a mental illness at some time. He was a key advisor in setting up Anorexic Family Aid, and following its merger with Anorexic Aid to become the Eating Disorders Association (EDA), Arthur became a founder Patron. He was particularly generous with his time in helping the EDA.

Arthur always gave credit to the strong support he received from his family, including during his last illness. He will be sorely missed by them and the countless colleagues who got to know him.

Professor Arthur Crisp died on 13 October 2006, aged 76. He is survived by his wife Irene and their three sons.