A person cannot be more devalued than to be considered unworthy or incapable of conversation
Dorothea Buck
Dorothea Buck was an accomplished artist, teacher and mental health advocate. After being diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 19, she underwent invasive forms of psychiatric treatment, and was forcibly sterilized under the Nazi regime, barely escaping euthanasia. She worked to understand her own illness and fueled by her own experience with psychiatry became a mental health advocate. Her efforts shifted the traditional German approach to psychiatry towards a more progressive and empathetic route. One of her notable contributions is her pioneering of the “trialogue” approach, which gives equal weight to the professional, the patient, and the patient’s family.
She was internationally recognized for her work receiving the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, one of Germany’s highest honors, in 2008. In 2011, she created the Dorothea Buck Foundation for mutual support of psychiatric patients.
1917-2019, Germany
Selected resources
- Dorothea Buck, ‘‘On the Trail of the Morning Star: Psychosis as Self-Discovery,’’ 1990
- Alexandra Pohlmeier: The sky and beyond – on the trail of Dorothea Buck. https://german-documentaries.de/en_EN/films/the-sky-and-beyond-on-the-trail-of-dorothe.6234