Esther Loring Richards

Esther Loring Richards (June 6, 1885 – July 6, 1956) was an American physician and child psychiatrist, based in Baltimore. She was on the faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and psychiatrist-in-charge of the outpatient department at the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic from 1920 until 1951.

Esther Loring Richards in 1924

Quotes

• "One of the most difficult things the doctor and teacher have to do is to blast the popular and ancient delusion that there is an instinctive preparation for parenthood; that because a husband and wife produce a child they are mysteriously endowed with perfect wisdom concerning the nurture and development of this child."
  • Richards, Esther Loring (1929-02-01). "Mental Aspects of Play". American Physical Education Review. 34 (2): 98–100. doi:10.1080/23267224.1929.10652371.

• "Prohibition, whether of the use of alcohol or anything else we may want or wish to do, will never develop in us or any people self control, a sense of social responsibility, or the ability to make wise choices for ourselves."
  • "Woman Scientist Decries Dry Law; Dr. Esther Richards, Psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins, Joins Reform Organization". The New York Times. 1931-04-12. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  • Part of her 1931 announcement that she was opposed to the Eighteenth Amendment and was joining the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform