Dr. Hartmann was born in Vienna, Austria. His family moved to Paris when he was one year old and then to Switzerland. He was almost four years old when the family arrived in New York. Both his parents were physicians and psychoanalysts. His father, Heinz Hartmann, was a significant theoretician in the history of psychoanalysis.
Dr. Hartmann studied at Harvard as an undergraduate and earned his M.D. in 1965. Along the way, he received a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford and received an M.A. His internship was at the University of California in San Francisco, and his psychiatric residency was at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, followed by training and a career in child psychiatry. He has served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and as a consultant to the Boston Public Schools.
Dr. Hartmann has been involved with many psychiatric organizations. He served on the Steering Committee of the National Committee of Concerned Psychiatrists (1971–75); was a member of the APA Assembly (1976–85); served on the APA Board of Trustees as Speaker of the Assembly (1981–82); served as Founding Director of the APPI Press (1981–82); and was President of the New England Council of Child Psychiatry (1979–81). He has been an active member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Hartmann served as Vice President of the American Psychiatric Association and President (1991–1992).