Self Help Psychology

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Parents Rose and Albert Grossack Dr. Martin Meyer Grossack was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 11, 1928, the son of Albert and Rose Grossack, immigrants from Bobruisk, Byelorussia. Albert and his mother, Hannah, had escaped Czarist Russia by smuggling themselves past border guards and ultimately sailing to New York from Rotterdam. Albert was 14 when he arrived in Boston and diligently worked his way into a responsible position in the food and beverage wholesale distribution business, and later opened his own grocery and wine store in the Allston neighborhood of Boston.

With mother, Rose, after graduation. Young Martin attended Boston public schools, graduating from Roxbury Memorial High School. He attended Northeastern University and Boston University, from where he received a Doctorate in Social Psychology. In the summer of 1951 he married a student at Brandeis University, Judith Trachtenberg, from Dorchester. She was a psychology major, and the daughter of Joseph and Sophie Trachtenberg, also immigrants. A commission was made available for him to join the United States Air Force, which he entered as a lieutenant and served as a psychologist during the Korean conflict. Dr. Grossack with students in Philander Smith College, Little Rock. After his discharge from the Air Force, Dr. Grossack joined the faculty of Philander Smith College, a black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. His experiences there during the 1954 desegregation crisis led to his interest in the mental health issues attendant to the racial situation in the South. Dr. Grossack was profoundly troubled by the discrimination suffered by his students and fellow faculty members.

With a coconut in Honolulu. Dr. Grossack also found time to spend a year on the faculty of the University of Hawaii where his first son, David was born in 1956. Ultimately family ties led the Grossack family back to Boston, and they settled in the quiet seaside resort community of Hull, living merely a few yards from Nantasket Beach.

Dr. Grossack's Little Rock experience led to his first book, Mental Health and Segregation, published by Springer in New York in 1963. The research studies in this book gave a complete picture of the African American condition prior to the civil rights movement. They documented the consequences of segregation on personality, morale, school adjustment, emotional problems, and problems presented to clinical practitioners. The book was well received and helped establish his career in academia.

With wife, sons and David's galpal, Joan. Dr. Grossack taught at Boston State College and Suffolk University, and would soon author You Are Not Alone, a popular self help psychology book which had numerous printings and editions and was ultimately released by Signet. You Are Not Alone is significant in that it provided guidance for individual mental health problems in the context of what the author labeled a 'sick society'. Dr. Grossack, believing that social conditions contributed to mental health problems, was convinced that changes were needed in our society to help each individual fulfill his or her potential and to enjoy better lives.

Major American corporations became interested in Dr. Grossack's research on the psychology of advertising. Christopher Publishing House released Understanding Consumer Behavior in 1964; and Dr. Grossack became involved with such companies as Pillsbury, Boston Edison, Gillette, Union Carbide and numerous advertising agencies as a consultant. Consumer Psychology For Humanized Bank Marketing was published in 1971, and Dr. Grossack became an authority on applied motivational research in banking. A social psychology textbook, which he co-authored with Dr. Howard Gardner, Man and Men, was published by International Textbook Company, and was widely used in schools.

In the late 1970's Dr. Grossack turned his attention to the founding of a clinic known as the Institute For Rational Living which he founded in Copley Square in Boston. The IRL, as it was called, offered what Dr. Grossack called 'rational self therapy' to patients, with an emphasis on encounter and group therapies. Classed in Creative Contacts for Singles, Coping with Anxiety and Depression, and Self Hypnosis made the IRL a popular place for learning and personal growth. Moreover, the IRL broke new ground by offering couples counseling to gays and therapy to persons with transgender and sexual identity issues.

Recent photo with wife Judith. Dr. Grossack still found time to write another book, Love, Sex and Self Fulfillment, released by Signet in 1978. In his later years Dr. Grossack chose to spend time with his family and grandchildren, Zachary, Adam and Samuel. Illness struck repeatedly and, on September 28, 2000, at the age of 72, Martin Grossack died of cancer.


A PUBLICATION OF CAMBRIDGE STERLING MEDIA
HOMEPAGE LARGE GROUP AWARENESS TRAINING IN RADICAL THERAPY FOR VICTIMS OF LEGAL AND GOVERNMENT ABUSE RADICAL SELF THERAPY Dr. Martin Grossack BOOKSTORE Dr. Grossack on Wikipedia Biographical Sketch Photographs Obituaries Family Genealogy A prediction that came true Other Useful Links History of Psychology ABRAHAM MASLOW Nataniel Branden Timothy Leary Evolutionary Psychology Amarican Psychology Association Self Hypnosis The Radical Psychology Network Atheism	BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Dr. Martin Meyer Grossack was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 11, 1928, the son of Albert and Rose Grossack, immigrants from Bobruisk, Byelorussia. Albert and his mother, Hannah, had escaped Czarist Russia by smuggling themselves past border guards and ultimately sailing to New York from Rotterdam. Albert was 14 when he arrived in Boston and diligently worked his way into a responsible position in the food and beverage wholesale distribution business, and later opened his own grocery and wine store in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. Young Martin attended Boston public schools, graduating from Roxbury Memorial High School. He attended Northeastern University and Boston University, from where he received a Doctorate in Social Psychology. In the summer of 1951 he married a student at Brandeis University, Judith Trachtenberg, from Dorchester. She was a psychology major, and the daughter of Joseph and Sophie Trachtenberg, also immigrants. A commission was made available for him to join the United States Air Force, which he entered as a lieutenant and served as a psychologist during the Korean conflict. After his discharge from the Air Force, Dr. Grossack joined the faculty of Philander Smith College, a black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. His experiences there during the 1954 desegregation crisis led to his interest in the mental health issues attendant to the racial situation in the South. Dr. Grossack was profoundly troubled by the discrimination suffered by his students and fellow faculty members. Dr. Grossack also found time to spend a year on the faculty of the University of Hawaii where his first son, David was born in 1956. Ultimately family ties led the Grossack family back to Boston, and they settled in the quiet seaside resort community of Hull, living merely a few yards from Nantasket Beach. Dr. Grossack's Little Rock experience led to his first book, Mental Health and Segregation, published by Springer in New York in 1963. The research studies in this book gave a complete picture of the African American condition prior to the civil rights movement. They documented the consequences of segregation on personality, morale, school adjustment, emotional problems, and problems presented to clinical practitioners. The book was well received and helped establish his career in academia. Dr. Grossack taught at Boston State College and Suffolk University, and would soon author You Are Not Alone, a popular self help psychology book which had numerous printings and editions and was ultimately released by Signet. You Are Not Alone is significant in that it provided guidance for individual mental health problems in the context of what the author labeled a 'sick society'. Dr. Grossack, believing that social conditions contributed to mental health problems, was convinced that changes were needed in our society to help each individual fulfill his or her potential and to enjoy better lives. Major American corporations became interested in Dr. Grossack's research on the psychology of advertising. Christopher Publishing House released Understanding Consumer Behavior in 1964; and Dr. Grossack became involved with such companies as Pillsbury, Boston Edison, Gillette, Union Carbide and numerous advertising agencies as a consultant. Consumer Psychology For Humanized Bank Marketing was published in 1971, and Dr. Grossack became an authority on applied motivational research in banking. A social psychology textbook, which he co-authored with Dr. Howard Gardner, Man and Men, was published by International Textbook Company, and was widely used in schools. In the late 1970's Dr. Grossack turned his attention to the founding of a clinic known as the Institute For Rational Living which he founded in Copley Square in Boston. The IRL, as it was called, offered what Dr. Grossack called 'rational self therapy' to patients, with an emphasis on encounter and group therapies. Classed in Creative Contacts for Singles, Coping with Anxiety and Depression, and Self Hypnosis made the IRL a popular place for learning and personal growth. Moreover, the IRL broke new ground by offering couples counseling to gays and therapy to persons with transgender and sexual identity issues. Dr. Grossack still found time to write another book, Love, Sex and Self Fulfillment, released by Signet in 1978. In his later years Dr. Grossack chose to spend time with his family and grandchildren, Zachary, Adam and Samuel. Illness struck repeatedly and, on September 28, 2000, at the age of 72, Martin Grossack died of cancer.
©copyright 2007 CAMBRIDGE STERLING MEDIA