Sheppard Pratt Medical Director Honored with Best Article in Journal of Trauma and Dissociation

Baltimore, MD, January 23, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Sheppard Pratt Health System (SPHS) is pleased to announce that Medical Director of The Trauma Disorders Program (TTDP), Richard J. Loewenstein, M.D., is one of five co-authors to receive the Richard P. Kluft Award for Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 2012 Best Article. The award winning article, “Where Are We Going? An Update on Assessment, Treatment, and Neurobiological Research in Dissociative Disorders as We Move Toward the DSM-5,” is written by a team of leading mental health professionals, many members of or advisors to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–Fifth Edition (DSM-5) Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum, Post-Traumatic, and Dissociative Disorders Work Group. The article summarizes timely and significant issues within the field of dissociation and research directions for the field based on the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria.

Upon recent selection of the article winner, the award committee congratulated the team of authors, noting the article’s excellent overview of recent developments and its potential to meaningfully inform the most wide-ranging audience to help shape the future field of trauma and dissociation. The article’s co-authors include Bethany L. Brand, Ph.D., from the Department of Psychology at Towson University and a psychological assessment supervisor for the trauma disorders postdoctoral fellows at Sheppard Pratt Health System, Ruth Lanius, M.D., Ph.D., from the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry at the University of Western Ontario, London, Eric Vermetten, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Psychiatry at the University Medical Center of the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience and the head of research in Military Mental Health for the Netherlands Department of Defense, and David Spiegel, M.D., from the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University.

“It is a great honor to be part of a team with such influence in the field of dissociation,” said Dr. Loewenstein. “We hope that this article will empower research and suggest areas for future studies on dissociation and trauma. Being recognized by the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation supports the idea that great progress has been made in dissociation, although there is still much work to be done.”

Dr. Loewenstein is a senior psychiatrist, and founder and medical director of TTDP at Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore, MD. Also a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, he has authored more than 75 papers and book chapters on dissociation, dissociative disorders, sleep disorders, consultation-liaison psychiatry and trauma disorders. In 2012, Dr. Loewenstein, a U.C. Berkeley and Yale University School of Medicine alumni, was named among the top one percent of American Physicians by U.S. News and World Report, was an International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation Lifetime Achievement Award winner and was identified as a Distinguished Life Fellow by the American Psychiatric Association.

About Sheppard Pratt Health System
Sheppard Pratt Health System is a nationally renowned mental health and special education system, dedicated to treatment, professional training and research since its inception in the mid 1800’s. With its outstanding psychiatric residency training program, the Health System is a proven leader in mental health education, ranking among the top mental health hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report for the 23rd consecutive year. Sheppard Pratt continues to expand its continuum of care for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, introducing new treatment modalities in locations throughout the Baltimore region and the state.