Ciumăgeanu attended a German high school in Timișoara and after graduation went to medical school in Timișoara where he studied general medicine. Later he also received a doctorate in psychiatry and a bachelor's degree in psychology there, as well as a masters in psychiatric anthropology at Paris 7, and a masters in special education at Timișoara. Starting in 2002, he practiced clinical psychology in Bucharest, and from 2006-2008 he served as head of the Romanian National Center for Mental Health (Centrului Național de Sănătate Mintală). He now works as a private psychotherapist, specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy, and is also a lecturer at the University of Timișoara in the Psychology Department, where he teaches psychopathology and clinical psychology.
Interview themes
00:00 Introduction
01:10 How Ciumăgeanu became interested in psychiatry (on being born into a psychiatric hospital)
6:00 On Ciumăgeanu's father, Dumitru Ciumăgeanu, his career, reputation, and political views
11:10 On the institution in Pâclișa (Spitalul de Neuro-Psihiatrie Infantilă Pâclișa) where his parents worked and where Ciumăgeanu spent his early years
15:45 More on Dumitru Ciumăgeanu's life, work, and politics
17:45 On how his father related to the Ceaușescu regime
20:20 On Ciumăgeanu's grandparents, especially his paternal grandfather and maternal grandparents (marital politics, Orthodox priesthood, membership in the Iron Guard, vampire stories and rituals of the dead [and undead] in the village)
40:10 How Ciumăgeanu now relates to rituals of the (un)dead in which he participated as a child from the standpoint of a psy-professional
44:25 The German school in Timișoara Ciumăgeanu attended and the atmosphere in the town at the time (late 1970s-1980s)
49:00 How his family experienced the official ban on psychology of 1978
55:30 On how Ciumăgeanu's family became (temporarily) Jewish
58:45 Are there mental conditions unique to or common among Romanians and/or Central-Eastern Europeans of the time? (boală de curent, suppression of anger, socialization to envy)
1:08:40 Experience heading the Romanian National Center of Mental Health (Centrului Național de Sănătate Mintală), 2006-2008.
1:16:20 Lessons drawn from the experience working for the Romanian government
1:27:50 On the history of various therapeutic interventions in Romania (as compared with other countries in the region)
1:36:30 Popularity of the New German Psychotherapy derived by the National Socialist Johannes Heinrich Schultz (and on the post-1989 proliferation of therapeutic methods and their uncritical reception in Romania)
1:42:35 Ciumăgeanu's exposure to and interest in the ideas of anti-psychiatry (his father's temporary period of "madness")
1:54:15 Can development of the critical capacity negatively impact the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions?
2:00:30 How Ciumăgeanu teaches psychiatry and psychology now
2:03:15 Notable trends in the way students approach the field now (preparation, proclivities, capacities)
2:10:20 On the experience of Ciumăgeanu's mother, personal and professional
2:17:55 What Ciumăgeanu would like to focus on next
2:19:50 Ciumăgeanu's concerns about developments in neuroscience and the potential for manipulative intervention
