Doctor of the Heart: An Autobiography Paperback – February 19, 2026

The psychology of affirmation came into wide acceptance in the United States after the Second World War due to the tireless effort and charismatic personality of psychiatrist Dr. Conrad W. Baars. His translation and adaptation of the insights of Dr. Anna Terruwe of Holland opened whole new avenues of approach to the area of psychiatry and psychotherapy in the English-speaking world. More importantly he found that her therapeutic approach which applied the psychology of St. Thomas Aquinas to the healing of the person - body, mind, and spirit - worked. With her, Conrad Baars went on to publish two major works in the field: Healing the Unaffirmed (Alba House, 2002) and Psychic Wholeness and Healing (Alba House 2016). His autobiography details the steps which brought him to the practice of medicine, and ultimately psychiatry, highlighting his life as a young man at the outset of the Second World War in the Netherlands as a student, in flight as a member of the underground resistance, his arrest and internment at Buchenwald concentration camp under the Nazis where he worked as a nurse in the camp's hospital wards, to his liberation at the hands of the Allies on Wednesday, April 11, 1945. Life under such conditions taught him what books never could: that without God life has no value and less purpose. There is a spiritual dimension to man which must be respected, nurtured, and frequently healed before a person can live as a happy and productive human being. Readers will find his life story as inspiring as it is compelling. For more information on the works of Conrad Baars please visit www.baarsinstitute.com. Read more