author
Morton Prince
1854–1929
A pioneering American neurologist and psychologist, he helped bring the study of dissociation, hypnosis, and other unusual mental states into early clinical psychology. He is best remembered for writing The Dissociation of a Personality, one of the best-known case studies in the history of abnormal psychology.
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About the author
Born in Boston in 1854, Morton Prince trained at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School before building a career in neurology and psychology. He became known for studying hysteria, hypnosis, dissociation, and related disorders at a time when these subjects were only beginning to be treated as serious medical and psychological questions.
Prince taught medicine and psychology and was an important figure in shaping abnormal psychology in the United States. He also founded the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, helping create a home for research on mental life that did not fit neatly into ordinary categories.
Today he is most often associated with The Dissociation of a Personality (1906), his influential account of the famous "Sally Beauchamp" case. Even when some of his ideas now feel tied to an earlier era, his work remains part of the story of how modern clinical psychology first took shape.