Obituary: Eliot Sorel- A great friend of Indian Psychiatry

The passing away of Eliot Sorel on October 13, 2024 marks the end of an era, especially in Social Psychiatry. This news has deeply saddened his innumerable friends in India and the world. Eliot has been a dear friend for the past 3 decades and a source of constant support and strength to me. He was the Clinical Professor, Global Health, Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health, George Washington University, USA. He was a former President of the World Association for Social Psychiatry (WASP) and founder of the Conflict Management and Resolution Section of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA). We had a wonderful meeting during the 1996 World Congress of Psychiatry at Madrid. I was too young with limited exposure to world psychiatry, but Eliot had received me with much love and affection. Our friendship prospered, and he was my friend, philosopher, and guide when I was elected Secretary General of WASP in 2010 at Marrakech. During my Presidentship of the Indian Psychiatric Society, he came over to Bangalore in 2013 on our invitation as a Guest of Honour at our Annual Conference. From 2012, he had served as a member of the International Advisory Board of the Indian Journal of Psychiatry and had supported our journal in world forums. In 2019, when I was WASP President, his native country and beloved city Bucharest was chosen for the WASP World Congress because Eliot had assured us of its resounding success. Despite other bidders, the WASP EC believed in him. In the end, Bucharest Congress 2019 turned out to be a great event with Eliot helping and guiding us all the time. Eliot’s contributions to psychiatry, public health, and especially social psychiatry will ever be remembered. He believed in dialogue, inclusiveness, and mutual respect. Above all, he was a great human being. We join his family and friends in this hour of grief and offer our prayers and support.