Daniel B. Fisher

Daniel B. Fisher, is an American psychiatrist, co-founder and executive director of the USA National Empowerment Center.

He is a board-certified psychiatrist. A graduate of Princeton University, he completed a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, medical training at George Washington University, and a psychiatric residency at Harvard Medical School.

While working as a biomedical researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, Fisher had a psychotic breakdown, including hallucinations and delusions. After three months at Bethesda Naval Hospital, at age 25, which included forced seclusion and antipsychotic medication haloperidol, he was discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He was involuntarily hospitalized three times. He reports being influenced by those who were able to show they cared about the person inside and gave him hope that he might some day recover. He went on to become a psychiatrist. He was told during psychiatric training that "You can’t talk to an illness" but believed that talking to the person inside is a key method for building trust and recovery. He has since worked as a psychiatrist in hospitals and clinics, while also been part of the consumer movement. He said that a very significant part of the reason for becoming a psychiatrist was wanting to bring to the field what he wished had been there when he was going through psychosis