Lightner Witmer

1867-1956

Lightner WitmerLightner Witmer was educated in Leipzig, receiving is Ph.D. in 1893. He took a position in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he began a specialty in the area of clinical psychology. His main claim to fame was his psychological clinic, one in which psychologists evaluated patients and performed therapy. Witmer recommended that psychologists determine a child's condition before and at the end of treatment and that they document the methods used.

Lightner Witmer's writings in chronological order

Witmer, L. (1896). Practical work in psychology. Pediatrics, 2, 462-471.

Witmer, L. (1897). The organization of practical work in psychology. Psychological Review, 4, 116-117.

Witmer, L. (1902). Analytical psychology. Boston: Ginn

Witmer, L. (1906-1907). Clinical psychology. The Psychological Clinic, 1, 1-9.

Witmer, L. (1908-1909). The hospital school. The Psychological Clinic, 2, 138-146.

Witmer, L. (1908-1909) Retardation through neglect in children of the rich. The Psychological Clinic, 2, 157-174.

Witmer, L. (1909). The study and treatment of retardation: A field of applied psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 6, 121-126.

Witmer, W. (1911). The special class form backward children. Philadelphia: Psychological Clinic Press.

Witmer, L. (1915). The exceptional child: At home an in school. In University lectures delivered by members of the faculty in the free public lecture course, 1913-1914 (pp. 534-555). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Witmer, L. (1917-1918). Diagnostic education: An education for the fortunate few. The Psychological Clinic, 11, 69-78.

Witmer, L. (1919-1920). Orthogenic cases, Number 14. Don: a curable case of arrested development due to a fear psychosis, the result of shock in a three-year-old infant. The Psychological Clinic, 13, 97-111.

Witmer, L. (1931). Psychological diagnosis and the physhonic orientation of analytic science. An epitome. In R. A. Brotemarkle (Ed.), Clinical psychology: Studies in honor of Lightner Witmer, pp. 388-409. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Writings about Witmer, arranged alphabetically

McReynolds, P. (1997). Lightner Witmer : His life and times. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.

O'Donnell, John (1979). The clinical psychology of Lightner Witmer: A case study of institutional innovation and intellectual change. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 14, 3-17.