Psychologist

"I am happy today. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. " - The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on the eve of his assassination in 1968 The slain civil rights leader might not be so happy today if he could observe the lack of progress made by American society since his death almost 23 years ago. That was one of the conclusions drawn by Alvin F. Poussaint, a black psychologist, who spoke at a Dr. King observance Friday...

Matti K. Gershenfeld, 83, of Elkins Park, a world-renowned psychologist who founded the Couples Learning Center in Jenkintown, died of multiple organ failure last Sunday at the Philadelphia Protestant Home, where she had been for three months. Mrs. Gershenfeld devoted her career to helping families coping with the stress that accompanies life changes. She drew upon her experiences as a mother of four, an author of eight books, a lecturer, a television talk-show host, a domestic-violence expert, a social researcher, and a teacher at Temple University.

Matti Kibrick Gershenfeld, a Temple University professor and a Cheltenham Township resident, was recently named chairwoman of the board of governors at Gratz College in Melrose Park. Her appointment marks the first time in the school's 106-year history that a woman will serve as chair. A Philadelphia native, Gershenfeld is a psychologist and owner of a consulting firm that provides services to more than 200 organizations worldwide. She is an adjunct professor of psychology at Temple and author of eight books including Groups: Theory and Experiences, now in its sixth edition.

In the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings, Gloucester County school administrators and government officials are banding together to hire a clinical psychologist to work with teachers and guidance counselors in 15 school districts so that violence on that scale never erupts in their hallways. The psychologist will be asked to sensitize teachers and administrators to signs that students are at risk for violence. Also, he or she will create profiles of gangs, hate groups, and underground Internet alliances operating in the schools, Freeholder Director Stephen Sweeney announced yesterday at a news conference.

A psychologist doing research on addiction has sued the city of Philadelphia and a police officer he says attacked him in North Philadelphia and beat him so severely his eye socket was partially crushed. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey also was named in the federal civil-rights lawsuit filed Friday by Anthony Abrams, a Ph.D. and director of mental-health services at the Bucks County Correctional Facility. Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said authorities could not comment on the suit because an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

A Philadelphia man yesterday asked the state Supreme Court to overturn his death sentence, contending that Common Pleas Court Judge Albert F. Sabo improperly denied him the money he needed to hire a psychologist for his defense. The case of Anthony Reid offers the state's highest court the opportunity to decide the extent to which indigent defendants are entitled to have the court pay for experts and investigators to work in their behalf. In 45 minutes of argument yesterday, Reid's lawyer contended that Sabo improperly refused to let him hire a private psychologist to examine Reid before a hearing on whether he should be put to death.

Jerry Sandusky's behavior exhibited a "pedophile's pattern of building trust," a psychologist told police in 1998 after interviewing one of the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach's alleged victims. But after evaluating the same boy, another expert concluded that Sandusky had done nothing that could not be "defined as normal between a healthy adult and a young adolescent male. " Those conflicting analyses - both included in a police report that year on allegations that Sandusky had touched an 11-year-old inappropriately in a locker-room shower on the Penn State campus - suggest a possible answer to one of the central questions to emerge since the former coach's arrest last year on more than 50 counts of child sex abuse.

In little more than a year, Philadelphia police officers have had to repeat the same wrenching ritual over and over - dealing with the bloody crime scenes, the grim hospital vigils, the solemn funeral processions. Since October 2007, five of their fellow officers have been killed in the line of duty. "For 13 months, it's been pure hell for the officers," said John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. "We've never experienced anything like this before and hopefully we won't have to experience it again.

William Thomas has the logical answer for an Eagles team with an apparent personality disorder: a psychologist. A sports psychologist, to be precise. The two-time Pro Bowler revealed yesterday that he has been seeing a Philadelphia-based sports psychologist since the off-season. "I talk to him on the phone. I have visits with him," Thomas said. "You just have to keep your head on straight. This is my first year, and it really helps. I have a whole different perspective on things.