Leo Sher, M.D.

Dr. Slavko Ziherl, M.D., Ph.D. (1945 – 2012) was an eminent Slovenian physician. He graduated from the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine in Slovenia. Dr. Ziherl studied psychiatry at the University Psychiatric Clinic Ljubljana in Slovenia. He also studied psychiatry in the Netherlands, Great Britain, United States, and Canada.

Dr. Ziherl was a great educator. He taught medical students and physicians in Slovenia for many years. He also taught forensic psychiatry to Law students.

Dr. Ziherl hold many leadership positions including the Head of the Centre for Treatment of Alcohol Addiction of the University Psychiatric Hospital in Ljubljana, Director of Ljubljana Psychiatric Hospital, President of the Association of Psychiatrists of Slovenia, and Vice President of the European Board of Psychiatry.

Dr. Ziherl was the author of books on alcohol use disorder and on autohypnosis. He also authored several articles and chapters in the professional literature, including chapters in a textbook of psychiatry. He translated 10 textbooks from English into Slovenian.

In 2006, Dr. Ziherl together with his colleague, Dr. Bojan Zalar published an interesting and important research report, “Risk of suicide after attempted suicide in the population of Slovenia from 1970 to 1996” (1). This work indicates that the risk of suicide in those who previously attempted suicide is approximately 773 times higher than the risk of suicide without a previous suicide attempt and that individuals who attempt suicide by hanging are at even greater risk to die by suicide. In 2007, Dr. Ziherl and his colleagues published an article, “The extermination of psychiatric patients in occupied Slovenia in 1941” (2). In this paper, the authors documented terrible Nazi crimes against psychiatric patients in Slovenia.

References

1. Ziherl S, Zalar B. Risk of suicide after attempted suicide in the population of Slovenia from 1970 to 1996. European Psychiatry 2006 Sep;21(6):396-400. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2005.04.006. Epub 2005 Jul 1.
2. Ziherl S, Čebašek-Travnik Z, Zupanič-Slavec Z. The extermination of psychiatric patients in occupied Slovenia in 1941. International Journal of Mental Health 2007; 36(1): 99-104. DOI: 10.2753/IMH0020-7411360109