Richard Addison

Ritch Addison, PhD, is a Licensed Psychologist and an Emeritus Professor of the Sutter Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency. He leads both Personal and Professional Development groups and Balint groups for physicians and other health care professionals and has done so for over 40 years. He is a Past President of the American Balint Society, and organization that focuses on improving the patient-clinician relationship.

He co-edited Entering the circle: Hermeneutic Investigation in Psychology, an anthology of exemplary hermeneutic research and Exploring Collaborative research in Primary Care, a book describing conjoint qualitative and quantitative approaches in primary care research. He also edited the Proceedings of the 17^th International Balint Congress.

He has published on topics including meaning in medicine, Balint and personal and professional development groups for physicians, the professional socialization of family physicians, physician stress, burnout and impairment, physician vulnerability, marital stress among physicians and their spouses, support services for resident-physicians, how physicians deal with dying patients and qualitative research strategies.

In 2014, he received an award from the Sonoma County Medical Association for his lifelong work on the personal and professional development of physicians.

He lives in Northern California, plays tennis, hikes, watches hawks, and reads like crazy trying to better understand what’s happening in our world.