Nossrat Peseschkian

Peseschkian was, up to the date of his death, the head of the International Academy for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy the president of the World Association for Positive Psychotherapy, and Honorary President of the German Association for Positive Psychotherapy. He was honorary professor at the National Psychoneurologic Institute Bechterew in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1996, he received the Federal Order of Merit from the president of Germany. Peseschkian was a member of the Baháʼí Faith.

Peseschkian wrote 26 different psychotherapeutic books, some of them have been translated into 23 languages. The method of positive psychotherapy is a psychodynamic method with a cross-cultural and humanistic background and has been developed beginning in 1968. In 1977, the German Association for Positive Psychotherapy was founded. Internationally, Positive Psychotherapy is represented by the World Association of Positive Psychotherapy. Swiss psychiatrist Professor G. Benedetti, explained in 1979: "His model is a notable synthesis of psychodynamic and behavior-therapeutic elements, making an essential contribution to a unified relationship within psychotherapy".

Born and raised in Iran, Nossrat Peseschkian went to Germany in 1954 for his studies in medicine at the universities of Freiburg, Frankfurt am Main and Mainz. After his medical specialization and his dissertation, he had his postgraduate training in psychotherapy in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the United States. As an international lecturer, Peseschkian traveled to 67 countries worldwide. A global network of over 100 local, regional and national centers of Positive Psychotherapy has been established in 33 countries up to date. Most of his trainings focused on Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxemburg.

Nossrat Peseschkian (Persian: نصرت پزشکیان; June 18, 1933 – April 27, 2010) lived in Germany since 1954. He was a specialist in neurology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine. Peseschkian founded Positive Psychotherapy in 1968, based on a cross-cultural approach; he was also the founder of the Wiesbaden Academy of Psychotherapy (WIAP), a German-state-licensed, postgraduate institute of psychotherapy (since 1971).