There has never been a time when it was more important for us to stand together ... exhibiting the among ourselves that tolerance which we advise our patients.
Dr. Overholser was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was educated at local schools, entered Harvard in 1909, and graduated cum laude (1912). He received his medical training at Boston University Medical School and received his M.D. (1916). He remained there for a year of residency and then joined the staff of Westboro State Hospital.
During WWI, he served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in France. After the war, he transferred to the Gardener State Colony as Assistant Superintendent and then to Medfield State Hospital (1921). He was appointed Assistant to the Commissioner of Mental Diseases (1924), Assistant Commissioner (1930), and Commissioner (1934). He was a Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School and later appointed Superintendent of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. (1937), where he remained until 1962.
In Washington, D.C., Dr. Overholser served on various federal boards, including Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington University School of Medicine, served on the Editorial Board of the AMA Journal of Medicine, and received the Selective Service Medal in 1946. He was chairman of the Subcommittee on Mental Health of the District of Columbia Medical Society, president of the Pan-American Medical Association, and president of the Academy of Medicine in Washington. He served as editor of the Quarterly Review of Psychiatry and Neurology and was a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners.He received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1940 from Boston University and an LHD in 1955 from St. Bonaventure College.
Dr. Overholser’s bibliography includes over 300 items. His Handbook of Psychiatry was published in 1945, and Psychiatry and the Law in 1953. Dr. Overholser served as President of the American Psychiatric Association (1947–48).