My friend and colleague Dr. David Sasso, a psychiatrist at Yale University, has recently completed a chapter on performing arts psychiatry for the textbook Performing Arts Medicine which will be published later this year (Science and Medicine). As David was writing over the last several years we have had many conversations on psychiatric issues among performing artists. I had not however estimated my contributions significant enough to find myself in the acknowledgments as having “provided a vital perspective as a practicing performer.” It would appear I miscalculated.

Dr. Sasso is an orchestral and choral composer whose works have been played by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Children’s Choir. He is now forming a reputation in the young field of performing arts psychiatry, that is, understanding and treating performers who have psychiatric problems.