Dr Eric Cunningham Dax AO, BSc Lond, HonMD, FRACP, FRANZCP, HonFRCPsych (born 1908) is a British psychiatrist resident in Australia since 1952. 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Psychiatrist redirects here, for the party game, see Psychiatrist (game) Psychiatry is a medical specialty dealing with the prevention, assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of mental illness. ...

Clinical Work in England

In England during the 1930s and 1940s, Dax worked with John Rawlings Rees, Francis Reitmann and others who advocated the use of somatic (physical) treatments for patients with mental problems. He contributed to the development of shock therapy ^{[1] [2]} and lobotomy ^[3] while working at Netherne Hospital, Coulsdon, and continued to use lobotomy in Australia ^[4] Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... The 1930s (years from 1930-1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949. ... John Rawlings Rees (1890-1969) was a wartime and civilian psychiatrist. ... Shock therapy is the deliberate and controlled induction of some form of physiological state of shock in an individual for the purpose of psychiatric treatment. ... A human brain that had undergone lobotomy. ... Coulsdon is a place in the London Borough of Croydon on the Brighton Road (A23). ...

In 1946, while the Medical Superintendent of Netherne Hospital, Dax pioneered the use of art programs as part of mainstream psychiatric treatment. He began a collection of artworks produced by psychiatric patients ^[5]. This has become one of the largest collections of its type in the world and is housed at the University of Melbourne ^[6]. The Old Quad Building, formerly Old Law The University of Melbourne, located in Melbourne, Victoria, is the second oldest university in Australia, and the oldest in Victoria. ...

Mental Hygiene Authority of Victoria

In 1952, Dax emigrated to Melbourne, Australia to take up an appointment as founding Chairman of the Mental Hygiene Authority of Victoria (later known as the Mental Health Authority). The Authority was formed as a response to public concern about the treatment and welfare of psychiatric patients, and particularly as a response to the Kennedy Report of 1950 which highlighted the plight of these patients in Victoria in the immediate post war era ^[7] Dax remained in this position until 1968, introducing major reforms of mental health services. These included the moving of psychiatric treatment from asylums to community settings ^[8] and the introduction of art programs for patients. In 1961, the World Federation for Mental Health sponsored the publication of Dax's book Asylum To Community, which describes the rapid expansion of community psychiatric centres in Australia. In his introduction to this book the Federation's Chairman, John Rawlings Rees, praised Dax's Mental Hygiene Authority as 'a major training ground in psychiatry and mental health work for all the English-speaking populations of the South-western Pacific region'. Melbournes Yarra River is a popular area for walking, jogging, cycling, rowing and for relaxing on the banks with a picnic Melbourne (pronounced ) is the second most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 3. ... Victoria may refer to: // Victoria of the United Kingdom, aka Queen Victoria, former British monarch Victoria (Australia), a state in Australia Victoria, British Columbia, the capital of the Canadian province Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory Victoria may also refer to: Victoria (name) Main disambiguation page: Victoria of the United... The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) was founded in 1948. ... John Rawlings Rees (1890-1969) was a wartime and civilian psychiatrist. ...

As part of his general strategy to expand psychiatric services, the teaching of psychiatry and the education of doctors in psychiatric principles, Dax lobbied for the creation of a chair of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne; this was achieved in 1963. He supported the establishment of the Parkville Psychiatric Unit as a teaching unit of the University ^[9].

Although health services in Australia were funded and administered at state level, Dax advocated federal intervention to coordinate and further resource psychiatric services ^[10].

Opposition to Scientology

Dax used his position to campaign actively against the Church of Scientology in Australia. In 1962 he wrote to the Minister of Health in each Australian state, warning of what he considered to be the dangers of this new religion ^[11]. The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ...

When the Government of Victoria convened a Board of Inquiry into Scientology in 1964, in addition to appearing as an expert witness, Dax conferred with other medical witnesses regarding their evidence ^[12]. He also instructed one of his staff, Dr. M.B. Macmillan, to recruit and coordinate other expert witnesses appearing before the Board ^[13]. In 1959, L. Ron Hubbard set up Scientologys headquarters at Saint Hill, England, a few miles from East Grinstead. ...

Scientologists alleged that Dax's campaign was a response to their Church's criticism of such practices as shock therapy and psychosurgery ^[14]. Psychosurgery is a term for surgeries of the brain involving procedures that modulate the performance of the brain, and thus effect changes in cognition, with the intent to treat or alleviate severe mental illness. ...

Later Career

From 1969 to 1978 Dax was Community Health Services Co-ordinator in the Mental Health Services Commission, Tasmania. Emblems: Flora - Tasmanian Blue Gum; Mineral - Crocoite Motto: Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Slogan or Nickname: The Apple Isle; Holiday Isle Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Government Const. ...

He was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Medicine honoris causa at the University of Melbourne on 15 December 1984, and remains a Senior Fellow in Psychiatry at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Royal Melbourne Hospital in Parkville is one of Australia’s leading public hospitals. ...

References

Dax, E.C. (1961) Asylum to Community: The Development of the Mental Hygiene Service in Victoria, Australia. Cheshire: Melbourne 230 pp.

Dax, E.C. (1981) Crimes, follies and misfortunes in the history of Australasian psychiatry. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 15: 257-263.

Dax, E.C. (1998) The Cunningham Dax Collection: Selected Works of Psychiatric Art. Melbourne University Press 102 pp. ISBN 0522847684

Robson, B. (2002) An English psychiatrist in Australia: memories of Eric Cunningham Dax and the Victorian Mental Hygiene Authority, 1951-1969. History of Psychiatry 13: 69-98.

Notes

1. ^ Dax, E. C. (1940) Convulsion therapy by ammonium chloride. Journal of Mental Science 86: 660-667.
2. ^ Dax, E. C. (1951) Indications for shock therapy. Journal of Mental Science 97: 142-144
3. ^ Dax, E. C., Reitmann, F. & Radley-Smith, E. J. (1949) Vertical and horizontal incisions in the frontal lobes in leucotomy. Proceedings 1st International Conference on Psychosurgery, Lisboa, 1949 pp. 119-122
4. ^ Freeman, W. (1965) Psychosurgery. American Journal of Psychiatry 121: 653-655.
5. ^ Dax, E.C. (1998) The Cunningham Dax Collection: Selected Works of Psychiatric Art. Melbourne University Press 102 pp. ISBN 0522847684
6. ^ http://www.daxcollection.org.au/ The Cunningham Dax Collection of Psychiatric Art
7. ^ http://www.vtpu.org.au/resources/publications/books/migration_health/mmh12Crowther.php Crowther, E. (1994) Education of Psychiatric Nurses in Minas, I.H. & Hayes, C.L. (eds) Migration and Mental Health. Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit, Melbourne.
8. ^ Dax, E.C. (1992) The evolution of community psychiatry. "Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry" 26: 295-301.
9. ^ http://www.psychiatry.unimelb.edu.au/dept/history.html History, Psychiatry Department, University of Melbourne
10. ^ Dax, E. C. (1967) Psychiatry in Australia. American Journal of Psychiatry 124: 180-186
11. ^ Garrison, O.V. (1974) The Hidden Story of Scientology. Citadel Press: Secaucus NJ. ISBN 0806504404 p.145
12. ^ State of Victoria (1965) Transcript, Board of Inquiry into Scientology. p. 3207.
13. ^ State of Victoria (1965) Transcript, Board of Inquiry into Scientology. p. 2976
14. ^ Church of Scientology of California (1967) Kangaroo Court: An investigation into the conduct of the Board of Inquiry into Scientology. Hubbard College of Scientology: East Grinstead, England. p. 8