Peter A. Olsson

Peter A. Olsson (born 1941) is an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and author. He is author of the book, Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time: A Psychological Study of Destructive Cult Leaders from Rev. Jim Jones to Osama bin Laden.^[1] Olsson won the 1979 Judith Baskin Offer Prize for his paper "Adolescent Involvement with the Supernatural and Cults."

Olsson has practiced medicine as a psychiatrist for more than 30 years in Texas and New Hampshire. He has published many scholarly papers and contributed chapters to eight books about psychology.^[2][3]

Olsson is an assistant professor of psychiatry, supervising medical residents at Dartmouth Medical School;^[4] Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Baylor College of Medicine; Past President of the Houston Psychiatric Society; a graduate of the Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute; Fellow of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis; and Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.^[5]

Olsson won the 1979 Judith Baskin Offer Prize for his paper "Adolescent Involvement with the Supernatural and Cults."^[6][5]

Prior to publishing Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time in 2005, Olsson had written scholarly articles on the subject; specifically on Osama bin Laden and Shoko Asahara. These include "A Malignant Pied Piper: Osama bin Laden",^[7] which also appeared as Chapter 5 in the book Jihad and Sacred Vengeance: Psychological Undercurrents of History,^[8] and "Shoko Asahara: The malignant pied piper of Japan".^[9] It was positively reviewed.^[10][11]

In 2006, Olsson gave the plenary speech at the annual meeting of The American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians, where he spoke about his book, and took questions from fellow physicians.^[12][13]

• 1967 Award for Excellence in Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine
• 1969 William C. Mennuger Award, Central Neuropsychiatric Association, Honorable Mention for article: "Elective Mutism in Childhood"
• 1978 Houston Group Psychotherapy Society Award, Meritorious Contributions as Senior Faculty Member of Annual Institutes in Group Therapy
• 1979 Judith Baskin Offer Prize, paper "Adolescent Involvement with the Supernatural and Cults."
• 1999 Special Service Award, Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians, San Antonio, Texas

• Assistant professor of psychiatry, supervising medical residents at Dartmouth Medical School
• Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine
• Past President, Houston Psychiatric Society
• Fellow, American Academy of Psychoanalysis
• Distinguished Life Fellow, American Psychiatric Association

• B.S., Wheaton College, 1963
• M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1967
• Internship, University of Vermont, 1968
• Psychoanalysis graduate training, Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute, 1981

• —— (2005). Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time: A Psychological Study of Destructive Cult Leaders From the Rev. Jim Jones to Osama bin Laden. PublishAmerica. Also released as Malignant Pied Pipers.

• “Elective Mutism in Children: A Difficult Problem for The School and Therapist,” Medical Records and Annals of the Medical Center, Vol. 61, No. 11 (November, 1968): 366–370. Olsson, P.A. and Kraft I.
• “The B.U.D. in Chronic Alcoholics and Its Resolution Through Psychodrama,” 'Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama, Vol. XXIII, No. 3-4 (1970): 84-90 Olsson, P.A. and Fankhauser, J.
• “Nonverbal Techniques in an Adolescent Group,” International Journal of Group Psychotherary (April, 1972): 186-191.Olsson, P.A. and Meyers, I.,
• “Psychodrama and Group Therapy with Young Heroin Addicts Returning from Duty in Vietnam,” Psychodrama and Group Psychotherapy, Vol. XXV, No. 4 (19973): 141-147. Olsson, P.A.
• The Use of Pedagogic Drama in Psychiatric Education,” Journal of Medical Education, Vol. 59 (March, 1975) 299-300. Byrd, G.J. and Olsson
• “The Use of Sex Therapy in a Patient with a Penile Prosthesis,” Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, Vol. L, No. 4 (Summer 1975): 305-311. Divita, E.C. and Olsson, P. A.,
• “Erectile Impotence Treated with an Implantable, Inflatable Prosthesis",” The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 241, No. 24 (June 15, 1979): 2609-2613. Scott, F. B.., Byrd, G.J., Karacan, I., Olsson, P.A., Beutler, L.E. and Attita, S.I.
• “Psychiatric Evaluation of the Penile Implant Candidate,” in Sleep Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment. Williams, R. and Karacan, I., Editors. New York: Wiley (1978): 395-399. Byrd, G. and Olsson, P.A., (Book Chapter 16)
• “The Expressive Arts Fields in Evaluation and Treatment,” in The Clinician's Manual of Mental Health Care: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Moffic, S. and Adams, G., Editors. New York: Addison-Wesley (1980). Olsson, P.A. (Chapter 13)
• “Adolescent Involvement With the Supernatural and Cults: Some Clinical, Theoretical and Applied Psychoanalytic Considerations.” The Annual of Psychoanalysis of the Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis. Vol. VIII (1980): 171-196. Olsson, P.A.
• “New Uses of Psychodrama.” Journal of Operational Psychiatry, Vol. 114, No. 2 (1983): 96-102. Olsson, P. A. and Barth, P. A.
• “New Bottlers for Old Wine: Adolescent Involvement With the Supernatural and Cults.” In: Psychodynamic Perspectives on Religion, Sect and Cults. Halpern, D., Editor. Boston: John Wright (1983): 235-256. Olsson, P.A., (Book Chapter 14)
• “Complexities in the Psychology and Psychotherapy Of the Phenomenally Wealthy.” In Last Taboo: Money as Symbol and Reality in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Krueger, D., Editor. New York: Bruner/Mazel (1986): 55-69. Olsson, P.A. (Book Chapter 6)
• “Constructive Approaches to Counter-Transference in Couples Group Psychotherapy.” The Journal of the Houston Group Psychotherapy Society. Vol. L, No. l (September, 1986): 57-67. Olsson, P.A.
• “The Terrorist and the Terrorized: Some Psychoanalytic Considerations.” The Journal of Psychohistory. Vol. 16, No. 1 (Summer, 1988): 47-60. Olsson, P.A.
• “Psychodrama and Group Therapy Approaches to Alexithymia.” In Group Psychodynamics: New Paradigms and New Perspectives. Halperin, O. A., Editor. Chicago, London, Boca Raton: Year Book Medical Publishers (1989): 169-180. Olsson, P. A. (Book Chapter 11)
• “The Terrorist and the Terrorized.” In: The Psychodynamics of International Relationships, Vol. 1, Concepts and Theories. Volkan, V., Julius, D., and Montville, J., Editors. Lexington, MA: Heath (1990): 181-192. Olsson, P.A., (Book Chapter 14)
• “Media power: The Vietnam and Gulf Wars.” Mind and Human Interaction, Vol. 3, No. 3 (May, 1992): 85-87. Olsson, P.A.
• “Our Deepening Crisis in Collegiality,” The Psychiatric Times, Vol. X, No. 1 (January, 1993): 7.
• “Sobriety Shop - A Variation on the Magic Shop For Addiction Treatment Patients.” In: Psychotherapy, Psychodrama & Sociometry, Vol. 46, No. 1, (Spring, 1993) Rustin, T.A. and Olsson, P. A.
• “A Psychoanalytic Study of Integrity, Inner Courage and ‘Good Character’” Mind and Human interaction, Vol. 5, No. 1, (February, 1994): 34-42. Olsson, P.A.
• “In Search of Their Fathers-Themselves: Jim Jones and David Koresh” Mind and Human Interaction, Vol. 5, No. 3 (August, 1994): 85-96. Olsson, P.A.
• “Shoko Asahara: The Malignant Pied Piper of Japan.” Mind and Human Interaction, Vol. 7, No. 2 (May, 1996): 54-63. Olsson, P.A.
• “Time Compressed: Psychoanalysis in the Days of AIDS and HIV.” J. Amer. Academy of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 25, No. 2 (1997): 277-293. Olsson, P.A.
• Psychodynamics of Leaders and Decision-Making, Monograph---"Mind & Human Interaction", vol 9 #3, 1998 Olsson, P.A. with Volkan et al.
• "Cry wolf’ often: Violence prevention at the mental health clinic.” Journal of Healthcare Safety, Compliance & Infection Control, Vol. 3, No. 5, May 1999 p205-206. Olsson, P.A.
• “A Psychoanalytic Study of Integrity and ‘Good Character’”, Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis Vol28#3, Fall 2000 p397-409. Olsson, P.A.
• "Grave Dangers From Bad Examples (Bullies and Arrogant "Celebrities") The Keene Sentinel March 20, 2001. Olsson, P.A.
• “Love of Community: My Experience as a Member of The Citizen Review Committee of The Houston Police Department”. Houston Psychiatric Society News, Vol. 3, Issue 6, June,2001, pp2–4.Olsson, P.A.
• “The Mind Of Osama bin Laden : Ultimate Terror Cult Leader", Fall/Winter issueThe Academy Form -of The American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 2002. Olsson, P.A.

• Official website