George Weinberg (psychologist) - Career

Career

George Weinberg is a Manhattan psychotherapist with a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University, a Masters Degree in English from New York University, and advanced training in mathematical statistics. He has written twelve books and is published in twenty-three languages. He has also written for popular and professional journals, and for television.

In January, 2010, Weinberg’s original “[http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-therapy/201001/cool-intervention-6-the-hunger-illusion Hunger Illusion“[intervention, as a way of discovering one’s own true motives, was the subject of a Psychology Today blog by Ryan Howse. On the blog, Dr. Howse interviews Dr. Weinberg.

Weinberg is known for several major contributions to psychotherapy. He coined the word “homophobia” (in his revolutionary 1972 book, Society and the Healthy Homosexual) to propose that those who harbor prejudice against homosexuals, and not homosexuals themselves, are suffering from a psychological malady, an irrational state of mind. Weinberg, though heterosexual himself, became a leader in the ultimately successful struggle to have homosexuality removed as a diagnostic category from the DSM, the professional therapeutic handbook. He has been instrumental in shifting public perception of homosexuality.

Weinberg began using the word in 1966 and soon the then minute “homophile movement” began using it. Weinberg next prevailed on a friend, Al Goldstein, who published the underground newspapers, Gay and Screw, to introduce the word. He wrote articles for the underground press himself. He then persuaded a young student, Ken Smith, to do a research study for his masters degree on homophobia, and they designed the questionnaire together. It was the first published scientific study of homophobia.

Weinberg's widely read, seminal 1984 book, The Heart of Psychotherapy, has described innovative therapeutic methods that de-emphasize traditional therapy’s approach. He instead presented immediately practical tools that patients can use to help themselves.

Weinberg's extensive background in mathematics was reflected in his doctoral thesis, "Clinical versus Statistical Prediction in Psychology", and he later wrote the textbook, Statistics, An Intuitive Approach. Its emphasis on the use and misuse of statistics led to its being adopted in many universities and appearing in four editions.

As a research consultant and a leading critic of alleged quantitative measurement in psychology, Weinberg has questioned the relevancy of most psychological experimentation. He points out the disconnect between psychological research and what actually works in therapy.

Weinberg is currently concluding work on a book called, Lies Your Therapist Told You.