Actualized 22 July 2010

Born 7 August 1944 in Ghent, Flanders, Belgium, 1944.

Krijgslaan 118, B-9000 GENT, Belgium Phone: +32.9.221.22.76 Fax: +32.9.245.01.96

He attended the Ghent Jesuit College, Latin-Greek humanities.

He is married to Barbara De Clercq, speech therapist and psychotherapist

They have 2 children.

STUDIES

He got his medical degree and his graduate as psychiatrist from the Free University at Brussels (VUB), including psychoanalysis, psychopharmacology and electroencephalography.

Complementary trainings

- Behaviour therapy (KUL, 1973-1976)

- System and Family Therapy (Interaktieakademie, Antwerp)

- Gestalt & Sensitivity Training (Estepona, Spain, under supervision of KUL)

- Pesso Therapy (two trainings with Al Pesso, and one in Utrecht)

- Transactional Analysis (VITA, Antwerp)

CLINICAL WORK

- medical director of an institution for mentally retarded boys, Lokeren (1972-1982)

- chief psychiatrist of a psychiatric hospital St-Jan-de-Deo, Ghent (1978-1990)

- Consulting psychiatrist in Oostburg (Netherlands), two General Hospitals (Bond Moyson, Jan Palfijn), private consultation Antwerp (within P&P Consult)

- He founded (2004) and directed (till 2009) the Depression Clinic in Ghent (in GH Jan Palfijn).

- Private practice of psychiatry and psychotherapy

RESEARCH

- Psychopharmacology: Participated actively in the development of several new neuroleptic drugs, including supervising the first clinical use of Risperidone (1983-1985). Hence several psychopharmacological publications and reports at International Congresses (including Florence, Paris, Kyoto, Stockholm, Jerusalem, Puerto Rico, Vienna)

- Philosophy: In 1964 he came upon the theories of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, thanks to a conference given in Gent by the famous Flemish philosopher Max Wildiers (1904-1996). He tried to become familiar with these fascinating theories, caring to check his understanding of Teilhard's often difficult visions with Wildiers himself. He gave many conferences on this topic, including a contribution in 2008 at the EVO-DEVO Congress on Evolution and Integration, the EDU 2008 Congress at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris

- Psychology: he contributed to the development of the integrative scientific method as an alternative to the exact scientific method, more appropriate to alpha sciences where measurement and experiment are most often impossible. With this method he tried to review most aspects of psychology, psychiatry and psychotherapy. Most of his theoretical work (hundreds of articles) are published on an integrative site (in Dutch): psy.cc. He proposed the name psychoanagogy as the comprehensive name for psychotherapy and personality development, replacing the Pathology Model with the Developmental Model.

- Further he published one book on Neurology (1978), one on Integrative Psychology (1985) and three on the historical, symbolic and psychological aspects of Freemasonry (1996, 1999, 2002)

- Next to psychology, spirituality is one of his major interests. His quest for movements and societies providing an active spiritual experience conducted him along several spiritual paths, including Teilhard's theories, Ignatian Spirituality, Masonry, Stoicism, the scientific and neoplatonic contributions of ancient Alexandria, the Medieval Flemish Mystics, Buddhism, Transcendental Meditation, Tantrism. He tried to integrate these rich contributions in one comprehensive psychological theory.

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

- In 1972 he founded a new Belgian Section of Mensa International.

- In 1985 he cooperated in the Foundation of Bekina, a society contributing to specialized training and treatment for problems of High Gifted youngsters.

- In 1990 he founded, together with prof. W. Szafran, VUB, the Belgian Society for Integrative Psychotherapy (BSIP). The BSIP organized three annual congresses (UCL,VUB, KUL) and presented a paper at an early SEPI congress in London (1992).

- Together with the British and the Italian societies on integrative psychotherapy he tried to found (1992) the European Society for Psychotherapy Integration (ESPI), but time didn’t seem ready for that.

- In 1994 he cooperated with Prof. Szafran and others to the introduction in Belgium of the European Association for Psychotherapists (EAP), founded in Vienna 1991.

- In 2003 he founded with his AIP colleagues Philippe Vrancken (Antwerp) and Didier Vanhee (Koekelare) the Vlaamse Vereniging voor Integratieve Psychologie (VVIP), a scientific society for integrative thought, psychology and psychotherapy. Its primary task is supervising research and education in the field of Integrative Psychotherapy, especially by the Academy for Integrative Psychology (AIP)

EDUCATIONAL WORK

- Professor of psychiatry, neurology, neuropsychology and social psychiatry at a paramedical school (1972-1992) (today Arteveldeschool in Ghent)

- In 1978 he founded the Academy for Integrative Psychology, organizing training (a four year course) for future psychotherapists and councellors along an integrative model, nowadays one of the oldest psychotherapy training institutes in Belgium and perhaps one of the first in the world to use explicitly the integrative theoretical model. Since 2000 there are divisions in Antwerp (Zoersel, Berchem) en Ostend (Koekelare).

- In 1994-1997 he participated to the development of a private secundary school (Huxley College) in Ghent.