Ian Brockington

Ian Brockington (1935-) was the son of Colin Fraser Brockington, one of the top names in British medicine. Ian trained as a cardiologist and went to Nigeria where he completed a monumental work on cardiomyopathy which formed the basis for his doctoral thesis ('Heart muscle disease in Nigeria').

However, on his return he decided to train in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital. He developed a strong interest in nosology of psychiatric illnesses. He moved to Chicago as a Visiting Professor where he produced several works on the nosology of psychiatric illnesses in association with R E Kendell and H Y Meltzer. He moved to Manchester University as a senior lecturer and was very soon appointed to a chair at the University of Birmingham. By this time, he had also developed an interest in postpartum psychiatric illnesses and was one of the founders of the Marc&eacute; Society, and the founder of the Section on Women's Mental Health in the World Psychiatric Association. Along with Ramesh Kumar, he produced two volumes, Motherhood and Mental Illness, and Motherhood and Mental Illness, Causes and Consequences.

He has written an authored work on Motherhood and Mental Health (1996) and more recently self-published, under the name Eyry Press two other books - Menstrual Psychosis, and Eileithyia's Mischief, named for the ancient Greek Eileithyia - goddess of childbirth and midwifery.