Miroslav Plzรกk: Psychiatrist, Author, and pioneer ofโ Marital Therapy
Miroslav Plzรกk,โค bornโฃ in Libuลกรญn near Kladno and raised in Prague, was a prominent psychiatrist and author known for his work on marriage and โฃmental health. He completed his medical studies at Charles University a year before โฃthe end of World war II, followed by factory work โin โขLibeล. He specialized in psychiatry after his second year of medical school.
Plzรกk’s political affiliation with the Czechoslovak National Socialistโ Party led to a period of politically motivated service in Auxiliary Technical Battalions for four and aโข half years following โhis studies. He then gained practical experience in hospitals in Prague-Bohnice, Kromฤลรญลพ,โข and Hornรญ Beลkovice before joining the psychiatricโข clinic of Professor Vladimรญr Vondrรกฤek in Prague inโฃ 1959. He becameโ head physician ther after four โyears and continued working at the clinic until his retirement in 1989.
Clinically, Plzรกk focused on treating depression, and his patients included many public โfigures, including actors. From the age of 60, he became a fixture in prague’s bohemian circles, โfrequenting venues like the Rokoko Theatre, Semaphore,โค and Reduta. During this time, actresses Olga Schoberovรก and Marie drahokoupilovรก became significant figures in his life. His โconnectionsโข to the art world and his assistance to individuals โฃfacing political โฃdifficulties led to scrutiny from theโฃ State Security,โค though he consistently denied any collaboration with them.
Plzรกk is credited with establishing the field of “Matrimoniology,” a scientific approach toโค the study of marriage. โขHe was promptedโข to do so by a rise in suicides in the early 1960s and afterward founded the first helpline โขin Czechoslovakia, modeled after the British Samaritans, which continues to operate today. He also authored the first university textbook on the subject.โ
He gainedโ some notorietyโ within the Conservative party for a slogan attributed to him – “hammer, hammer and hammer” – which he claimed he never actually uttered.โ He also expressed a โpersonal โขphilosophy regarding infidelity, stating,โค “When I am unfaithful to my wife, it is indeed unnecessary to confess to it, I will only multiply her suffering.”
Plzรกk authored dozens of books, many of which remained popular even decades after their initial publication, including โworksโ like First Aid in Marital or Marital โAccidents, Othelon or the Manual ofโค Jealousy, Men or Flowerโฆ or we have,โข we will meet. he also wrote for television and theater, with his play โฃ Zรกviลก โContra Bลezinovรก โฃ running for three years at the Semaphore Theatre.
Despite rumors, Plzรกk โฃwasโค divorced only once and was married to his second wife, โ24 years his junior, for nearly 40 โคyears. He experienced personal tragedy with โคthe โคsuicide of his son shortly before โthe young man’s graduation. He had a daughter,โค Renata, from his first โคmarriage, who also became a doctor. Miroslav โคPlzรกk died on November 13, 2010, at the age of 85.