Respected Jamaican psychiatrist Professor Freddie Hickling has died

Professor Federick Hickling, one of Jamaica’s most respected psychiatrists and pioneer of cultural therapy, has died at the aged of 74.

“I have no more words,” tweeted his daughter Dr Deborah Hickling this evening, announcing the death. 

“Love you pops,” she said.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has hailed him as a “great man”.

Hickling was Professor emeritus of psychiatry at The University of the West Indies (UWI) and former executive director of the Caribbean Institute of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

Over a decade ago, Professor Hickling jolted policymakers with findings from a research which revealed that up to 40 per cent of Jamaicans, between three and six times the global norm, exhibited personality disorders.

In 2016, he argued that when a broad range of conditions, such as personality disorders, psychosis, and dementia are taken into account, the prevalence of mental illness Jamaica would exceed 70 per cent.

Addressing these, he said, were key to fixing issues such as crime and indiscipline. 

Hickling was a graduate of the Wolmer’s High School for Boys, the UWI and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

In a long and distinguished career, he served as registrar of the 1962 Jamaica Independence Celebrations Committee and was once a reporter for The Gleaner.

Hickling was a member of numerous local, regional and international organisations including the New York Academy of Sciences, the UK’s Royal Society of Medicine and the National Council on Drug Abuse, which he chaired from 2003-2007.

In 2012, the Government honoured Professor Hickling with the Order of Distinction (Commander Class). 

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