Frank Lake
Encyclopedia
Frank Lake was one of the pioneers of pastoral counselling
in the United Kingdom. In 1962 he founded the Clinical Theology Association with the primary aim to make clergy more effective in understanding and accepting the psychological origins of their parishioners’ personal difficulties. However, the training seminars in pastoral counselling, which he began in 1958, eventually enlisted professional and lay people in various fields from various denominations. Many thousands of people attended the seminars.
Lake was born on 6 June 1914 in Aughton, Lancashire
. His parents were committed Christians. His father, John Lake, was both a stockbroker in Liverpool and the organist and choirmaster in their parish. His mother, Mary, had trained as a teacher. Lake was the eldest of three sons.
Lake studied medicine at Edinburgh University, graduating with degrees in medicine and surgery in 1937. With missionary work in mind, he trained in parasitology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and took up an appointment with the Church Mission Society
to serve in India. During World War 2 he was recruited into the Indian Medical Service, from which he emerged with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1945. His fiancée, Sylvia Smith, joined him in 1944 and they were married in Poona, where the eldest of their three children, David, was born. In 1946 Lake was posted to the parasitology department of the Vellore
Medical Centre.
Lake changed directions from parasitology to psychiatry after he was appointed as superintendent of the Christian Medical College in Madras. When setting up a psychiatric unit there, he became concerned with ‘a variety of imponderable emotional factors which I had never been taught to think about seriously before’. In the early 1950s, he undertook retraining as a psychiatrist, first at The Lawn, Lincoln, then at Scalebor Park Hospital in Burley, Yorkshire. His allegiance was to the Object-relations
school of psychoanalysis
. He believed that the first trimester of embryonal development was the most important part of a person's life. He was encouraged by the exploration of prenatal and perinatal influences of Fodor, Peerbolte, Mott, Winnicott and Swartley
. He was critical of Freud's about-face having first backed Rank's emphasis on the birth trauma.
Lake was a contemporary of Stanislav Grof
and both were researching the abreactive qualities of LSD
. LSD 25 was invented by a Swiss pharmaceutical company in 1943 had been sent to a number of psychiatric research clinics for study. He witnessed frequent abreactions of birth trauma in his patients and this was to guide his research for the rest of his life. He said,
Lake's LSD research was conducted from 1954 to 1970. In the later decade he evaluated many new techniques including transactional analysis
, gestalt therapy
, and Re-evaluation Counseling
.
Lake died from pancreatic cancer in the early 1980s.
Pastoral counseling
Pastoral counseling is a branch of counseling in which psychologically trained ministers, rabbis, priests and other persons provide therapy services...
in the United Kingdom. In 1962 he founded the Clinical Theology Association with the primary aim to make clergy more effective in understanding and accepting the psychological origins of their parishioners’ personal difficulties. However, the training seminars in pastoral counselling, which he began in 1958, eventually enlisted professional and lay people in various fields from various denominations. Many thousands of people attended the seminars.
Lake was born on 6 June 1914 in Aughton, Lancashire
Aughton, Lancashire
Aughton is a village and civil parish within the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, situated between Ormskirk in Lancashire and Maghull in Merseyside. It is a residential area with tree lined roads being found in all parts of the parish and with an area of 1,658 hectares...
. His parents were committed Christians. His father, John Lake, was both a stockbroker in Liverpool and the organist and choirmaster in their parish. His mother, Mary, had trained as a teacher. Lake was the eldest of three sons.
Lake studied medicine at Edinburgh University, graduating with degrees in medicine and surgery in 1937. With missionary work in mind, he trained in parasitology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and took up an appointment with the Church Mission Society
Church Mission Society
The Church Mission Society, also known as the Church Missionary Society, is a group of evangelistic societies working with the Anglican Communion and Protestant Christians around the world...
to serve in India. During World War 2 he was recruited into the Indian Medical Service, from which he emerged with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1945. His fiancée, Sylvia Smith, joined him in 1944 and they were married in Poona, where the eldest of their three children, David, was born. In 1946 Lake was posted to the parasitology department of the Vellore
Vellore
Vellore It is considered one of the oldest cities in South India and lies on the banks of the Palar river on the site of Vellore Fort. The city lies between Chennai and Bangalore and the Temple towns of Thiruvannamalai and Tirupati...
Medical Centre.
Lake changed directions from parasitology to psychiatry after he was appointed as superintendent of the Christian Medical College in Madras. When setting up a psychiatric unit there, he became concerned with ‘a variety of imponderable emotional factors which I had never been taught to think about seriously before’. In the early 1950s, he undertook retraining as a psychiatrist, first at The Lawn, Lincoln, then at Scalebor Park Hospital in Burley, Yorkshire. His allegiance was to the Object-relations
Object relations theory
Object relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment....
school of psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
. He believed that the first trimester of embryonal development was the most important part of a person's life. He was encouraged by the exploration of prenatal and perinatal influences of Fodor, Peerbolte, Mott, Winnicott and Swartley
Primal integration
Primal Integration is a form of personal growth work first formulated by the Canadian Bill Swartley in the mid 1970s. Unlike many other approaches known as psychotherapy, it puts the emphasis on an individual's self directed exploration of their own psyche assisted by facilitators who serve the...
. He was critical of Freud's about-face having first backed Rank's emphasis on the birth trauma.
Lake was a contemporary of Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of analyzing, healing, and obtaining growth and insight into the human psyche...
and both were researching the abreactive qualities of LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
. LSD 25 was invented by a Swiss pharmaceutical company in 1943 had been sent to a number of psychiatric research clinics for study. He witnessed frequent abreactions of birth trauma in his patients and this was to guide his research for the rest of his life. He said,
I was assured by neurologists that the nervous system of the baby was such that it was out of the question that any memory to do with birth could be reliably recorded as fact. I relayed my incredulity to my patients, and, as always happens in such cases, they tended thereafter to suppress what I was evidently unprepared, for so-called scientific reasons, to believe. But then a number of cases emerged in which the reliving of specific birth injuries, of forceps delivery, of the cord round the neck, of the stretched brachial plexus, and various other dramatic episodes were so vivid, so unmistakable in their origin, and afterwards confirmed by the mother or other reliable informants, that my suspicion was shaken... At the end of the sixties the value of Reichian and bio-energetic techniques broke upon us, and we discovered that deeper breathing alone was a sufficient catalyst for primal recapitulation and assimilation. Nothing more 'chemical' than that was necessary, so we stopped using LSD. Clinical Theology, xx, quoted in Maret, op. cit.
Lake's LSD research was conducted from 1954 to 1970. In the later decade he evaluated many new techniques including transactional analysis
Transactional analysis
Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. It is described as integrative because it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches...
, gestalt therapy
Gestalt therapy
Gestalt therapy is an existential/experiential form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses upon the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life, and the self-regulating...
, and Re-evaluation Counseling
Re-evaluation Counseling
Re-evaluation Counseling or RC is an organization founded by Harvey Jackins in the 1950s and led by him until his death in 1999. It introduced a procedure called "co-counseling", which Jackins said was a new and effective method of helping people and bringing about social reform. RC teaches...
.
Lake died from pancreatic cancer in the early 1980s.