Morris B. Parloff (1918-2011)

Morris B. Parloff was considered an elder statesman in the field of psychotherapy research, and his wisdom and stewardship were of enormous benefit to several generations of psychotherapy researchers. Parloff received his bachelor's degree from Western Reserve University (1940), a degree in psychiatric social work from the University of Chicago (1942), and a doctorate in psychology from Western Reserve University (1953). Parloff spent most of his career (from 1953 until his retirement in 1983) as a researcher and administrator at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). He was also on the senior faculty of the Washington School of Psychiatry, taught or consulted at a number of universities, and maintained a private practice of psychotherapy. In the NIMH intramural program, Parloff was chief of the Section on Personality in the Laboratory of Psychology. There he conducted a major longitudinal study on the personality characteristics of adolescent and adult scientists. In the NIMH extramural program, he served as chief of the Psychotherapy and Behavioral Intervention Section in the Clinical Research Branch (1972-1980), after which he became chief of the new Psychosocial Treatments Research Branch. Throughout his career, from his pioneering teaching and research on group psychotherapy through his 30 years at NIMH, Parloff provided researchers and practitioners with a broad understanding of the field of psychotherapy research, the complexity of its subject matter, and its relationship to the "real world." Often ahead of others in the field, Parloff dealt with many topics that retain their importance today, including the need to carefully define criteria for improvement in psychotherapy, the transmission of values in psychotherapy, the concepts of the placebo and of common factors in psychotherapy research, and the role of the patient-therapist relationship (in both individual and group therapy) and its impact on the outcome of therapy. Starting with a 1979 article in the American Psychologist ("Can Psychotherapy Research Guide the Policymaker? Vol. 34, pp. 296-306), Parloff wrote extensively about the relationship among practitioners, psychotherapy researchers, and policymakers. To promote the systematic use of clinical trials and address methodological issues in the field, Parloff obtained support to fund the first NIMH multisite collaborative outcome study in the field of psychotherapy. He and the first author (I. E.) then designed and launched the NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program. This study would serve as a model for future collaborative research by independent investigators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).