5 Famous Women Psychologists You NEED To Know About!

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We’ve been obsessed with Sigmund Freud. Period. Most of the memes and funny reels you see on Instagram today are all dedicated to this man. It’s understandable why. Freud and his theories are fascinating, for lack of a better word. But, this, in no way should mean that we forget about some of the famous women psychologists in our field. Right? So, in this post, we’ll be making acquaintances with some women psychologists who contributed significantly to the subject.

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Why are we talking about women psychologists here?

5 Famous Women Psychologists You NEED To Know About!

Also, you might be wondering why we are talking about female psychologists in particular. Well, this article started with how we can’t get enough of Freud (can we?). And when we finally get to talking about some of the most famous women psychologists, only six names are usually mentioned– Anna Freud, Karen Horney (read: horn-eye), Mary Whiton Calkins, Mary Ainsworth, Mamie Phipps Clark, and Margaret Washburn. Right?

While these women psychologists, there are many others in history that we don’t talk about enough. This post is sort of a tribute to them. The story of their struggles, dedication, and perseverance is awe-inspiring. I urge people reading this article to draw inspiration from these women psychologists. Remember them in times of need; let them lead you by example.

Marsha Linehan (1943- Present)

One look at faded cuts, burns, and welts on Dr. Linehan’s arms, and any patient would ask her one thing: have you suffered as well?

Well yes, she had. But, this was something Dr. Linehan took years to disclose. All those years in between, she was preoccupied with obtaining her formal education, and then saving people who were deeply suicidal, often as a result of their Borderline Personality Disorder. She developed a treatment model known as Dialectical behavior therapy. It worked on a few basic principles- all of which she needed when she herself was undergoing treatment for BPD but never received.

Dr. Linehan’s approach to BPD patients was far different and far more effective than anyone else’s. All because she chose to give people what her younger self needed.

To date, Dr. Linehan has received several awards, and a lot of her work has been used in scientific journals and make treatment journals for Borderline Personality Disorder. But, the biggest of all has to be Dr. Linehan coming out with the story of her own struggles at 68 and instilling hope and courage in so many others like her.

Also, read: What Is Conflict Anxiety? Here Are Some Things To Know

Francine Shapiro (1948-2019)

What’s one of the trendiest therapy models these days? Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, EMDR for short, perhaps? It was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro.

One fine afternoon, Francine, a psychology student was taking a walk through a park. She was troubled by a deeply upsetting memory. To distract herself, she started moving her eyes back and forth. Within a few seconds, her distress caused by the memory had lessened. This kind of marked the birth of an equally popular and controversial mode of treatment, EMDR.

Over the course of time, Dr. Shapiro went on to test the efficacy of the Eye Movement method in a variety of ways. And each time, the EMDR technique proved useful: it reduced the effect of the distressing memory. Still, the technique received mixed reviews. Some therapists found it to be useful, while others discarded it as a fuzzball that littered the field of psychology.

Today, EMDR is a widely used clinical intervention tool for the treatment of PTSD, premature ejaculation, and more. For her contribution to the field, Francine Shapiro has received several awards, like International Sigmund Freud Award, American Psychological Association Division 56 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice in Trauma Psychology, etc.

Virginia Satir (1916-1988)

What’s one place you should definitely try going to along with your family? American author and psychotherapist, Virginia Satir would say, family therapy.

Virginia Satir is also known as the mother of family therapy. While working as a teacher, she realized that apart from helping children in the classroom, she could also help their parents. And doing so would help improve the family dynamics greatly. According to Satir, if children and families can be healed, the world will be healed too.

So, after completing her studies, Virginia Satir embarked on her own therapy career and began helping families with problems. Later, she began working at the Illinois Psychiatric Institute where she trained other therapists to focus not only on the individual but the family as a whole.

Because Satir believed that psychological problems started with negative experiences and the upbringing of a child in a family. And so, the treatment focus should be on the family as well. Clearly, Satir had an unprecedented approach to therapy. And maybe, that is why she is one of the most famous women psychologists in the world today.

By the 1980s, Virginia was focusing on training therapists to provide relationship education. This, according to her, was crucial for any network to survive. The same idea was captured in her book, The New Peoplemaking, published just the year she died.

Insoo Kim Berg (1934- 2007)

You might have come across ‘Solutions-Focused Brief Therapy’. It’s yet another popular treatment model that, as the name suggests, focuses on finding solutions. It was co-founded by Insoo Kim Berg along with her husband, Steve de Shazer.

Born and brought up in Seoul, South Korea in 1934, Berg was initially a pharmacy major. In 1957, she moved to the US for further education, and well, to obtain independence. There, she obtained her Bachelor of Science, social work, and Master of Science degree and began working at an animal lab to investigate stomach cancer.

The idea of helping people, rather than killing rats at her lab, appealed to Berg and she shifted her focus to psychotherapy. After undergoing the necessary training, she began working at Milwaukee Family Services. While working with working-class families there, she discovered that they weren’t interested in “insights”, “growth”, or stuff like that, they wanted solutions.

Berg realized that she was failing to help these families. She read and read and then came across the MRI approach. That led her to meet her second husband, Shaza, and the couple founded the SFBT approach. It focused on building solutions instead of solving problems. These two things might look the same to you, but they are completely different.

Ruth Westheimer (1928- Present)

Have you ever met a 94-year-old Jewish lady, who is a Holocaust survivor, also a trained sniper, and is also a sex therapist? If not, let me introduce you to Dr. Ruth Westheimer, one of the most acclaimed women psychologists across the globe.

Born in 1928 in a small village in central Germany, Ruth was the only child to her Orthodox Jew parents. When Nazi Germany became too dangerous for Jews, Ruth was sent to Switzerland on the Kindertransport. She never heard from her family again.

Westheimer studied at the Institute of Psychology at the Sorbonne and moved to the US in 1956. There she attended the New School for Social Research on a scholarship for Holocaust victims, received a doctorate of education from Columbia University, and worked as a sex therapist for seven years at the New York Cornell Medical School.

Westheimer used to give lectures on the need for sex education. This led her to receive a 15-minute guest experience on a local radio show. The show was a hit and she was offered to make her own show called Sexually Speaking that aired for 15 minutes every Sunday for $25. This is where Dr. Ruth’s stardom skyrocketed.

Till now, Dr. Ruth has hosted her own television programs and made guest appearances on several others like The Tonight Show. She’s spoken on all kinds of taboo subjects related to her field, advocated for Planned Parenthood and research on AIDS, and written over 45 books.

She’s that cool grandma every GenZ kid would love to have.