Loren Pankratz (born February 27, 1940[citation needed]) is a consultation psychologist at the Portland VA Medical Center and professor in the department of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

[citation needed] He testified nationally on cases of Münchausen syndrome by proxy (MBP), often defending mothers accused of harming their children.

[2][3] He has written and lectured on a wide variety of unusual topics such as dancing manias, spiritualism, Greek oracles, ghosts, plagues, historical enigmas, mesmerism, moral panics, con-games, self-deception, faith healing, self-surgery, miracles, ethical blunders, quackery, and renaissance science.

[1] He was also responsible for psychiatry admissions, which gave him experience with emergency room physicians and procedures[citation needed] where he became aware of what he described in Summering in Oregon as false information that patients presented to clinicians.

[9] As a reviewer for the American Journal of Psychiatry, Pankratz vetted potential publications on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in which he says some authors "merely gathered evidence for what they believed was true about symptoms and the underlying trauma".

[9] In 1984, Pankratz and two colleagues founded the Drug-Seeking Behavior Committee which turned the focus of drug abuse from addiction to the earlier problem of risk.

Pankratz concluded that "mothers who present the problems of their children in ways perceived as unusual or problematic have become entangled in legal battles that should have been resolved clinically".

[13][14][15] In an interview with Psychology Today Pankratz stated "I have seen mothers accused of MBP simply because physicians disagreed about the medical management of their child..." it is "vastly overdiagnosed.

[22] The Los Angeles Times review said geezers, "are never more misunderstood than when, laid low by medical problems they can't shake themselves, they are forced to swallow their pride and go to the doctor."