Author Bio

About Dr. Jerry Hirschfield

Spiritual Psychotherapist, Author, Lecturer

 

The therapy I practice and my books help my clients and readers to find the Loving Center which exists within each of us, and to turn their egos over to this Center of benevolent, creative power so they may lead joyous, harmonious, and creative lives.


BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Hirschfield considers his life as a series of miracles. He was born in France and when aged eleven, came to the United States with his family at the beginning of World War II, crossing the U-boat infested Atlantic unharmed. He became a U.S. citizen in 1946 and lived in New York City for ten years. Jerry did his undergarduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a B.S. degree in electronics engineering in 1950.

Dr. Hirschfield became enamored of Southern California while on a summer vacation during his college years. He decided he would make his home there as soon as possible after graduation. Through another miracle, Jerry moved to California in 1952 and was employed in the aerospace industry for the next twenty years in engineering, management, and consulting positions. During that time, he obtained a Master of Engineering Management degree from the Engineering Executive Program at UCLA. As time passed, he became more interested in the human aspects of management and increasingly disenchanted with the military/industrial complex.

During the recession in the early seventies, Dr. Hirschfield lost his job in the aerospace industry (another miracle) and went through a severe mid-life crisis which led to the brink of suicide. He was stopped from taking that extreme step by an inner voice who said: "Do you really want your children to experience that horrible pain?" Jerry's answer was an almost immediate NO! and that was the beginning of his spiritual awakening. He felt a surge of energy out of which came a complete change of career, and his first book, The Twelve Steps for Everyone ... who really wants them. The book is an adaptation of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for all people having emotional or life adjustment problems. These problems, whether emotional or physical, are invariably the result of an imagined separation from a person's spiritual center caused by the person's conditioned ego being allowed to control life. The book has sold more than half a million copies to date. Please see the Books and CD's page on this website for a description of this and Dr. Hirschfield's other books.

Jerry's new career--actually careers--became psychotherapy, writing, and book publishing. At age 47, he returned to school (a miracle in itself) and earned an M.A. degree in Counseling, and later, a Ph.D. in Psychology. 
His Marriage and Family Therapist license was granted in 1980. Since that date until 2008, Jerry maintained a private practice in Sherman Oaks, California. During those years, he began to study the principal world religions, the Science of Mind, A Course in Miracles, and many other spiritual texts. He also continued to study and practice the Twelve Steps of several self-help fellowships patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous.

Early in 2009, through another miracle, after fifty-six years of California living, Dr. Hirschfield moved to Florida where he currently resides near Ft. Lauderdale. He has been a speaker at professional conferences and a frequent contributor to recovery magazines.

In his private life, Jerry has experienced two long-term marriages and subsequently, being single for twelve years. From these episodes, he learned that one can grow when in a close relationship as well as when living on one's own, although he prefers the former. "For me," Jerry says, "both have been necessary steps toward inner harmony and wholeness through allowing an Infinte, Loving Higher Power to teach my ego how to love." Filled with gratitude, through his latest miracle in a long, ongoing series, Jerry is currently enjoying a close relationship with his new love whom he met on the Internet a few years ago after several years of searching.

During the twenty-eight plus years of his professional therapy practice, Dr. Hirschfield's ability to sense and respond empathically to his clients' needs has become increasingly acute. He adds: "I feel privileged and grateful to be of help to people in this way."

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