William Bates (physician) - Bates' Mental Health

Bates' Mental Health

Bates appears to have suffered from a strange episode of amnesia (or possibly psychogenic fugue), referred to in his obituary, perhaps wrongly as 'a strange form of aphasia'. In 1902 he disappeared, was found, and then disappeared again, only to reappear after his second wife, who searched in vain for him, had died. This episode was said to have given him a particular interest in memory, perhaps influencing the direction of his work. He was married three times, having been widowed twice. In 1928, he married his long-time personal assistant Emily C. Lierman.

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