Balint, Michael (1896–1970)

Hungarian psychoanalyst and physician. Balint played a key role in introducing psychoanalysis into the training of doctors and other healthcare staff in Britain. In particular, his work helped illuminate the important role played by the doctor–patient relationship. His many publications include Psychotherapeutic Techniques in Medicine, 1961, and The Doctor, His Patient and The Illness, 1967.

The son of a general medical practitioner, Balint was born in Budapest, and qualified as a doctor himself in 1920. He then studied chemistry in Berlin 1921–24 before returning to Budapest, where he was instrumental in establishing a major psychoanalytic clinic in 1930. He emigrated to England in 1939, and worked at the Tavistock Clinic in London 1948–61. There, he and his wife Enid established research and training seminars for general practitioners, which won international acclaim.