Dunbar, Flanders (1902–1959)

American psychologist. Name variations: H. Flanders Dunbar or Helen Flanders. Born Helen Flanders Dunbar, May 14, 1902, in Chicago, Illinois; died by drowning in a swimming pool accident, though newspapers suggested suicide, Aug 21, 1959, in South Kent, Connecticut; dau. of Francis William Dunbar and Edith Vaughan (Flanders) Dunbar; Columbia University, PhD in philosophy, 1929; m. Theodor P. Wolfensberger, later Theodore P. Wolfe (psychiatrist), 1932 (div. 1939); m. George Henry Soule, Jr. (economist), 1940; children: (2nd m.) 1 daughter (b. 1941).

Known for her work in psychosomatic medicine for which she coined the term, established a reputation as Dante scholar with publication of doctoral dissertation, Symbolism in Mediaeval Thought and Its Consummation in the Divine Comedy (1929); became director of Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students (1930); participated in study of 1,600 patients at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, finding connections between personality profiles and ailments, and detecting accident-prone personality (1930s), then published findings in Psychosomatic Diagnosis (1943); held appointments in medical and psychiatric departments at Presbyterian Hospital and Vanderbilt Clinic, NY (1931–49); taught at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons (1931–49) and at New York Psychoanalytic Institute (1942–47); founded journal, Psychosomatic Medicine, serving as editor-in-chief (1938–47), and American Psychosomatic Society (1942); was almost killed in automobile accident (1954). Wrote Mind and Body (1947), Your Child's Mind and Body (1949) and Psychiatry in the Medical Specialties (1959).