Frank Ochberg

Frank Ochberg, MD (born 1940 in New York City), is a psychiatrist and mental health expert who resides in Okemos, Michigan, has been a leading authority in his field since the 1960s. A graduate of Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University medical school, he has helped to define and research Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially Victimization Symptoms as distinct subcategory of PTSD, and Stockholm Syndrome, among his many accomplishments. From 1969-1979 he was a regional, division, and associate director of the National Institute of Mental Health. He then became director of the Michigan Department of Mental Health, a position he held for 3 years, from 1979 to 1981.

Dr. Ochberg has also founded, headed or been part of a number of organizations dealing with PTSD and its treatment, including Gift From Within (founder), Critical Incident Analysis Group CIAG (founder) and The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma (chairman emeritus).

Dr. Ochberg has 3 children with Lynn Ochberg, his wife of over 40 years. They live in Okemos, Michigan, near Michigan State University, where Ochberg has taught in the College of Human Medicine and the Schools of Journalism and Criminal Justice.

Awards
Dr. Ochberg has received numerous awards in his field, the most prestigious being the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Among his other honors, he has received the Golden Award of the Academy of Traumatology (1998), and a Senior Fulbright Scholarship (South Africa) in 2002. Ochberg has recently devoted much of his time to educating journalists about trauma, and, in recognition, the Dart Center's Ochberg Fellowship was named for him. Ochberg Fellows, like Pulitzer prize-winning writers, must demonstrate exceptional writing skills as well as thorough investigation of their topics.

Books edited

 * Violence and the Struggle for Existence (with Daniels and Gilula), editor (1970, Little Brown and Company)
 * Victims of Terrorism (with Soskis), editor (1982, Westview Press)
 * Post-traumatic Therapy and Victims of Violence, editor (1988, Brunner Mazel)

Interviews

 * Mental Help Net's Wise Counsel Podcast featured an interview with Dr. Ochberg on October 1, 2008