Stuart Twemlow, MD, 2012 (1941-2022)

Stuart W. Twemlow was born and raised in New Zealand where he received his medical degree (M.B.Ch.B.). Dr Twemlow has a strong Maori heritage. His canoe ( waka), is Tainui, iwi (tribe), is Maniapoto. and hapu, ( sub-tribe or extended family), is Ngati Patupo, who were highly skilled in warfare and were King Tawhiao’s bodyguards.

He emmigrated to the USA in 1970 to the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas where he completed his residency and was later board certified in general psychiatry. He is a graduate of the Topeka Institute for Psychoanalysis at the Menninger Clinic and held various offices there including faculty member and President of the Topeka Psychoanalytic Society. Dr Twemlow had a private practice of Psychoanalysis & Psychiatry, with a special interest in problems in organisations and social systems for more than 30 years He has served as Medical Director of the HOPE unit for Treatment Refractory Adults at the Menninger Clinic, and Senior Psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry, Menninger Dept. Psychiatry, Baylor School of Medicine, Houston, Texas till 2011. He is also a Visiting Professor, University College, London, UK (Dept Health Sciences, Prof. Peter Fonagy) faculty member of the Houston Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a member of the American College of Psychiatrists. He is listed in Best Doctors and Top Psychiatrists in America.

Dr. Twemlow has over 200 publications in a wide variety of fields including school violence, prevention of community violence, the impact of trauma on children and communities, terrorism and cult dynamics, victim-victimizer-bystander relationships, workplace harassment, dispute negotiation and mediation altered states of consciousness, biofeedback, meditation, communication patterns in doctor/patient relationships, mother/son incest, psychopathology of sexually exploitative psychotherapists, and a book on out-of-body and near-death experiences entitled, “With the Eyes of the Mind,” with Dr. Glen Gabbard. He has also published a book entitled, “Creating a Peaceful School Learning Environment: A Program for Elementary Schools,” with Frank Sacco, Ph.D. and his son, Stephen Twemlow. He has coedited a collection of articles on analytic work with violence in the community : Analysts in the Trenches : Streets, Schools & War Zones, and another entitled The Future of Prejudice : Applications of Psychoanalytic Understanding toward its Prevention. Two recent books include : Why School Antibullying Programs Don’t Work(translated into Hungarian), Rowman & Littlefield with Frank Sacco, & Preventing Bullying & School Violence, American Psychiatric Press, 2011. He is a founding editor and Editor-in-Chief with Nadia Ramzy, PhD., of The International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies.

Dr. Twemlow has practiced meditation and the martial arts for over 40 years. He is a master teacher (Renshi) and advanced Black Belt (6th Dan) in two systems of Kenpo Karate and is 7th Dan in the Okinawan Weapons (Kobudo) systems. He is also a 1st Dan in Shinko Kaiten Aikido and second level Black in Eagle Claw Kung Fu. He practices and teaches martial arts, meditation and black ink brush painting and has exhibited, sold and published his brush paintings. He is listed in “Who’s Who in American Martial Arts”. Dr. Twemlow is President Emeritus of the United States Kenpo Federation. Three of his five children have advanced Kenpo Black Belts.

Dr. Twemlow is an international lecturer on the physical and psychological aspects of violence. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve on the Academic Advisory Council of the United States Presidential Campaign Against Youth Violence He has also consulted with Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica on problems of peace and violence, with representatives of the Australian, Hungarian and Finnish Governments on school bullying and violence, with the FBI on threat assessment and school violence in the US and with individuals from the government of Paraguay on violence in communities. He has worked with several cities and city departments mediating labor disputes, consulting on workplace climate, school climate, and threat assessment. He has completed successful projects to reduce violence and improve the quality of life in the USA & Jamaica, implemented in several cities in the US and in Australia. He has held several grants from cities, private foundations and Federal agencies supporting his work.