Peter A. Olsson (born 1941) is an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and author. He is author of the book, Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time: A Psychological Study of Destructive Cult Leaders from Rev. Jim Jones to Osama bin Laden. Olsson won the 1979 Judith Baskin Offer Prize for his paper "Adolescent Involvement with the Supernatural and Cults."

Medical career

Olsson has practiced medicine as a psychiatrist for more than 30 years in Texas and New Hampshire. He has published many scholarly papers and contributed chapters to eight books about psychology. Olsson is an assistant professor of psychiatry, supervising medical residents at Dartmouth Medical School; Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Baylor College of Medicine; Past President of the Houston Psychiatric Society; a graduate of the Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute; Fellow of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis; and Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Olsson won the 1979 Judith Baskin Offer Prize for his paper "Adolescent Involvement with the Supernatural and Cults."

Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time

Prior to publishing Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time in 2005, Olsson had written scholarly articles on the subject; specifically on Osama bin Laden and Shoko Asahara. These include "A Malignant Pied Piper: Osama bin Laden", which also appeared as Chapter 5 in the book Jihad and Sacred Vengeance: Psychological Undercurrents of History, and "Shoko Asahara: The malignant pied piper of Japan". It was positively reviewed. In 2006, Olsson gave the plenary speech at the annual meeting of The American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians, where he spoke about his book, and took questions from fellow physicians.

Awards and honors

Professional associations

Education

Publications

Books

Articles