As part of our blog series about women medical pioneers, meet Hilde Bruch, the Psychiatrist who escaped Nazi Germany and became one of the World’s leading authorities on Eating Disorders.
Her extensive lifetime research into eating disorders dramatically changed both medical and public perceptions of these conditions. During her eighty years of life, she authored hundreds of publications, held numerous professor positions, and saved her family from Nazi Germany. She is one of the Women Medical Pioneers who inspired us at IYASU, so read on to find out more!
A Practical Choice
“steadfast confidence, impeccable productivity and unflagging mercy for others.”
Herbert Bruch, describing his Aunt, Hilde Bruch.
Born in the German town of Dulken, on the Lower Rhine in 1904, Hilde Bruch was the 3rd of 7 children. Her family were part of the Jewish community and she and her brothers and sisters attended a local one-room Jewish elementary school.
Hilde later commuted to an all-girls’ secondary school where she decided she would like to become either a mathematician or a dressmaker. However, her uncle, who was responsible for financing her education, convinced her that medicine was a more practical choice.
Hilde obtained her medical degree from the University of Freiburg in 1929 and conducted academic research for 3 years before setting up a private paediatric practice near Düsseldorf.
An Interest in Paediatrics & Childhood Obesity
In 1933, rising German anti-Semitism forced Hilde to leave her practice and emigrate to England. She was able to escape from Germany under the guise of attending an international paediatric conference.
In London, she worked at the East End Maternity Hospital and Child Guidance Clinic for a year before moving to the United States. There she found employment at Babies’ Hospital in New York.
Perhaps because of her childhood name die Dicke (the fat one), Hilde was fascinated by the prevalence of childhood obesity in the US in comparison to Europe. She soon began research into this condition at Columbia University’s Endocrinology Department.
Family Ties
Hilde knew that her Jewish community back in Germany were being persecuted by the Nazis. She felt so much guilt for escaping, and desperation for dear family members left behind, that she attempted suicide in 1935.
She also returned to Nazi Germany to help her mother and 2 of her brothers escape. But tragically, she could not save all her siblings.
Many of her family and her fiancé were killed in the Holocaust. Hilde never married, but she did adopt her nephew, Herbert, only surviving child of her eldest brother.
Psychiatry & Eating Disorders
After her suicide attempt, she was admitted to hospital for treatment where she gained her first introduction to the specialty of Psychiatry. And a few years later, in 1940, she enrolled at John Hopkins University to study Psychiatry.
In 1959, Hilde was made a Professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and became well-known for her research and teaching on eating disorders. She published many landmark papers and ran a well-respected private practice.
In 1964, she became a Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, and was regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on emotional problems relating to eating.
Hilde’s book, Eating Disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa and the Person Within was published in 1973. Her work led to increased public awareness and innovative ways to diagnose, understand, and treat eating disorders for decades to come.
It was Hilde who first suggested that eating disorders are mental illnesses which may be amenable to treatment with psychotherapy, thus opening up a more comprehensive treatment strategy for sufferers.
Despite being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, Hilde continued to work in this field of medicine and psychiatry until her death at the age of 80 years in 1984.
