John P. Gray (psychiatrist)

For other people named John Gray, see John Gray (disambiguation).

John Perdue Gray (August 6, 1825, Halfmoon Township (Pennsylvania) - November 29, 1886, Utica, New York) was an American psychiatrist at the forefront of biological psychiatric theory during the 19th century.^[1]

John P. Gray
John P. Gray circa 1880
Born	(1825-08-06)August 6, 1825 Halfmoon Township (Pennsylvania)
Died	November 29, 1886(1886-11-29) (aged 61) Utica, New York
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Dickinson College University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

He attended Dickinson College, then the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he received his medical diploma in 1848.,^[2] He spent on year of further studies in Europe, then as a resident at Blockley Asylum in Philadelphia.^[2] In 1850, Gray worked at the Utica Psychiatric Center in New York and was superintendent from 1854 until his death in 1886.^[2] He was also the editor of the American Journal of Insanity, the precursor to the American Journal of Psychiatry.

He was an psychiatric expert in the trial for the assassination of president James A. Garfield^[2]

Gray believed that insanity was always due to physical causes and that the mentally ill should be treated as physically ill. He explained that mental illness can be affected by physical factors relating to an individual. He studied three such factors, namely: diet, temperature and ventilation.^[3]

Works

Gray, John P. General Paresis, or Incomplete Progressive Paralysis. Albany, NY: Van Benthuysen, 1866.

Gray, John P. Insanity, its Dependence on Physical Disease. Utica, NY: Roberts, 1871. https://archive.org/details/insanityitsdepen00gray

Gray, John P. Insanity: its Frequency and Some of its Preventable Causes. Utica, NY, 1886.

Gray, John P. The United States vs. Charles J. Guiteau, Indicted for Murder of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States. Opinion of ... on the Sanity of the Prisoner. Washington, 1882.