Health Care

Dr. Axel Hoffer became interested in psychology after taking a psychology course with psychoanalyst Dr. John Speigel. Learning about Freudian phases and theories, Dr. Hoffer found the subject matter to be fascinating and sought to delve into the field. After obtaining a medical doctorate and completing his medical training, he served the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, as a clinical associate for two years before transferring to Boston, where he began his career at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Starting out as an assistant clinical director, he then served as associate director. Since 1977, he has been the director of inpatient services.

Alongside his tenure at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Dr. Hoffer has been in private practice in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in Boston since 1975. Likewise, he spent 43 years at Harvard Medical School, where he was an assistant clinical professor and associate clinical professor until retiring in 2018. He has further served as a faculty member and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and the Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis.

A prolific editor as well, Dr. Hoffer is most proud of editing the book “Freud and the Buddha: The Couch and the Cushion” in 2015. Sitting on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, from which he received a Journal Prize in 1984, Dr. Hoffer was also a co-translator of “A Phylogenetic Fantasy” by Sigmund Freud in 1987.

Certified in adult psychoanalysis, Dr. Hoffer is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He has been featured in the first edition of Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare and the 23rd edition of Who’s Who in the East.

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