Harvey D. Strassman (September 19, 1922 – January 30, 2011)[1] was a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, medical educator, and clinical researcher.
He described the condition in the paper "A Prisoner of War Syndrome: Apathy as a Reaction to Severe Stress",[2] published with two colleagues in June 1956 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
The withdrawal and suppressed emotional responses, he noted, could become so severe and complete that it could lead to a “maladaptive state of dependency in which he (the prisoner) ceases to take care of himself even to the point of death.” He labeled the syndrome “apathy” and distinguished it from a catatonic stupor, or depression.
and his residency in psychiatry at the Veterans Administration hospital just west of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus where he first taught.
He lived in Los Angeles, became a psychoanalyst, and practiced in Beverly Hills, doing research on treatment for alcohol and substance abuse and on other topics such as humor and medical education.
[1] “Harvey was a mentor and a great giver of advice,” said Dr. Fred Sierles, a professor of psychiatry at the Chicago Medical School.
[1] At times, when he would lecture on humor, Harvey Strassman would plan to have someone throw a pie in his face during the talk to elicit a wide range of reactions: from laughter, to embarrassment, to anger, he said.