Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 7, 2003|Volume 32, Number 10

Dr. Robert Leo Arnstein

Dr. Robert Arnstein, counselor
to generations of students, dies

Dr. Robert Leo Arnstein, who counseled thousands of undergraduate and graduate students during a nearly 40-year career as a Yale psychiatrist, died on Oct. 27 at age 84.

Dr. Arnstein served for three decades as the chief psychiatrist in the Yale University Health Services' (YUHS) Division of Mental Hygiene and was a long-time clinical professor of psychiatry at the University.

A 1941 graduate of Yale College, he began his long career in college mental health in 1955 after earning his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1951 and completing his training as a resident in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. He served as psychiatrist-in-chief at YUHS from 1960 until his retirement in 1989.

"He was a national leader in the field of college mental health and a fine physician who was unwavering in his commitment and devotion to students and their emotional concerns," says Dr. Lorraine Siggins, who succeeded Dr. Arnstein as chief psychiatrist. "In addition to his expert knowledge, he displayed common sense and possessed acumen for sorting out complicated situations.

"Bob also had an unassuming manner and a delightful sense of humor. He was a wonderful colleague."

Beginning his career before Yale became a coeducational institution, Dr. Arnstein guided the mental hygiene department through its adaptation to dealing with the concerns of female students when the University first admitted women undergraduates in 1969 and through the period of national unrest on college campuses during the Vietnam War. He recalled in a 1989 interview with the Yale Bulletin & Calendar that earlier in his career, he and colleagues in his department thought they were being "radical" in recommending that college health services provide information about birth control to their students. While he maintained that many of the students' problems and concerns never changed over his years of service, transformations in students' sexual values brought along new issues, including sexual violence and AIDS. One notable change he witnessed in his professional life was the dramatic increase in psychiatric medications and a heightened focus on the biological roots of psychiatric illnesses.

The University's mental hygiene department became a national model for other campus mental health services under Dr. Arnstein's guidance. He developed a training program at YUHS for future mental health professionals and wrote numerous articles and book chapters on the psychological and social factors that contribute to mental health problems among college students, covering topics ranging from human sexuality and the stages of maturity to identity crises and adolescent depression.

"He contributed to the training of many young workers in the field: psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and others who often continued to stay in touch with Dr. Arnstein and the Division of Mental Hygiene for many years," says Dr. Ernst Prelinger, a clinical psychologist in the Division of Mental Hygiene and clinical professor of psychology and psychiatry. "He created a goodly number of alumni of the division who often in the creation of services elsewhere carried on what they had learned from him."

Dr. Arnstein was especially noted for his modesty, his kindness and his faith in and respect for his colleagues, according to Prelinger, who adds that he had an "unprejudiced openness to the views and thinking of everyone in the division.

"Two of his special traits were modesty and self-irony," comments Prelinger. "His ways of underrating himself could sometimes reach into the comical, and, as others became amused by his understatements, he could be found to share in this amusement. Fierce, although in a very quiet way, was his loyalty and faithfulness not only to friends, colleagues and to Yale (he hardly ever missed a football game), but to everyone with whom he came into contact."

Born in New York City, Robert Arnstein was the son of Elsie Nathan Arnstein and Leo Arnstein, a former New York City commissioner of welfare and president of Mt. Sinai Hospital. He attended the Lincoln School and Deerfield Academy prior to coming to Yale. In the year he graduated from the University, he was drafted into the Army and served in various roles during World War II, including guarding the Panama Canal. He was honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps in 1946 with the rank of major. He took pre-medical classes under the GI Bill at the Columbia University Summer School and at Vassar College, where he was one of few male students to attend in its pre-coeducational days. After graduating from the Harvard Medical School, he completed his internship in 1952 at the State University of New York Medical School in Syracuse. He completed his residency at Yale in 1955.

Dr. Arnstein joined Yale as a staff psychiatrist in the Division of Student Mental Hygiene at YUHS and as a clinical instructor. He became a clinical professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine in 1971. He chaired the Yale Faculty of Arts and Sciences Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects from 1967 until his retirement in 1989.

For his contributions in the field of college mental health, Dr. Arnstein was awarded the American College Health Association's Ruth E. Boynton Award in 1979 and the Edward L. Hitchcock Award in 1988. He was honored with the Mory's Cup for his contributions to the Yale community in 2002.

Dr. Arnstein was an active member of the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry and served on the boards of the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, the New Haven branch of the English Speaking Union and Fellowship Place, a supportive social center for mentally ill patients in New Haven. He was a trustee of Deerfield Academy and a member of the Executive Council of the Yale Class of 1941. He was a fellow of Timothy Dwight College and was a member of the Garden Club of New Haven.

Dr. Arnstein is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mary Benjamin Arnstein; and their children, Katharine Arnstein of Brighton, Massachusetts, Douglas Arnstein of San Francisco, California, Sarah Novack of Los Angeles, California, and Anne Arnstein of Meriden, Connecticut. He is also survived by his two grandchildren, Elena Arnstein of El Cerrito, California, and Jason Novack of Los Angeles.

Contributions in Dr. Arnstein's memory may be made to the Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven, CT 06510 or to Fellowship Place, 441 Elm St., New Haven, CT 06511. Memorial contributions may also be made to the charity of one's choice. A memorial service will be held in the spring of 2004.

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