9/8/13

HOME PAGE TODAY'S PAPER VIDEO

Ari Kiev, Psychiatrist to Athletes and Traders, Dies at 75 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com
MOST POPULAR TIMES TOPICS

Subscribe: Digital / Home Delivery Log In

Register Now

Business
W ORLD U.S. N.Y . / REGION BUSINESS T ECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HEA LT H SPORT S OPINION A RT S ST Y LE

Search All NYTimes.com

T RA V EL

JOBS

REAL ESTATE

AUTOS

Search Business

Financial Tools
Select a Financial Tool

More in Business
Global Business Markets Econom y DealBook Media & Advertising Sm all Business Your Money Energy & Environm ent

Ari Kiev, a Psychiatrist, Dies at 75

By WILLIAM GRIMES Published: November 29, 2009
TWITTER LINKEDIN SIGN IN TO EMAIL PRINT REPRINTS SHARE

More Articles in Business

MOST POPULAR - BUSINESS
E-MAILED BLOGGED VIEWED

Ari Kiev, a psychiatrist whose early work on depression and suicide prevention led to a career helping athletes and Wall Street traders achieve peak performance, died Nov. 18 in Manhattan. He was 75 and lived in Park Ridge, N.J.
Enlarge This Image

1. Reworking Labor: A.F.L.-C.I.O. Has Plan to Add Millions of Nonunion Members 2. Y our Money: Tighter Rules Will Make It Harder to Get a Reverse Mortgage 3. At Virgin America, a Fine Line Between Pizazz and Profit 4. VW and Its Workers Explore a Union at a Tennessee Plant 5. Wealth Matters: Seeking Investments That Are Profitable and a Little Bit Green 6. Shortcuts: A Special Purchase to Curb Behavior Could, Just as Easily, Terrify a Pet 7. F.D.A. Approves a Drug for Late-Stage Pancreatic Cancer 8. Bold Play by CBS Fortifies Broadcasters 9. Soft Jobs Data Not Expected to Deter Fed 10. Fair Game: Find the Loan Behind the Loans
Go to Complete List

The cause was complications of cancer, his son Marshall said. Dr. Kiev (pronounced Keeve) showed signs of intellectual restlessness early on. As a young psychiatrist he became intrigued by how other cultures dealt with mental problems. His interest in what he called transcultural psychiatry led him to seek out nontraditional practitioners in Africa and Asia, and to explore psychiatry in the Soviet Union.

Ruby Washington/The New Y ork Times

Ari Kiev in 1998. He helped athletes and traders develop techniques to shift abruptly from extreme exertion to relaxation.

These forays provided the material for one of his early books Transcultural Psychiatry (1972), and two essay collections that he edited, Magic, Faith and Healing: Studies in Primitive Psychiatry Today (1964) and Psychiatry in the Communist World (1968). After specializing in depression and suicide prevention, work that often involved shoring up the self-reliance and assertiveness of patients, he became fascinated by the psychological barriers athletes encounter when trying to improve on their best performances. He applied visualization and relaxation techniques to coax faster times out of rowers and bobsledders, while helping them recognize and face down their fear of failure. His work with athletes caught the attention of Steven A. Cohen, the founder of the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, who hired Dr. Kiev in the early 1990s to coach his traders and help them deal with the stress and uncertainties of financial markets.
www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/business/30kiev.html?_r=0 1/4

9/8/13

Ari Kiev, Psychiatrist to Athletes and Traders, Dies at 75 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

Dr. Kiev translated his Wall Street experiences into best-selling books on stock trading, notably Trading to Win (1998), Trading in the Zone (2001) and Hedge Fund Masters (2005). Ari Nissan Kiev was born in the Bronx, the son of a rabbi, and grew up in Washington Heights. He attended Stuyvesant High School and graduated from Harvard in 1954 with a degree in social relations. After earning a medical degree in 1958 from Cornell Medical College and pursuing his psychiatric training at Johns Hopkins and at the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in London, he returned to Cornell to head its department of social psychiatry. Dr. Kiev specialized in suicide-prevention research. At Cornell he founded and directed the Suicide Prevention Clinic, and in 1970 he founded the Social Psychiatry Research Institute in Manhattan to help develop antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs. The institute has been involved in clinical trials of Prozac, Zoloft and other drugs. After meeting several Olympic athletes at a gym where his sons worked out in the 1970s, he became interested in the psychology of sports performance and was appointed to the United States Olympic Committees sports medicine committee. His work with basketball players, bobsledders, archers and scullers and his articles on the subject caught the attention of Mr. Cohen, who saw parallels between the challenges faced by top athletes and Wall Street traders and hired Mr. Kiev in 1992 to coach his employees. Dr. Kiev helped traders develop techniques to shift abruptly from moments of extreme exertion to relaxation, as he had done with athletes, and to manage the stress that comes with uncertainty or, rather the certainty that even good traders can expect to be right only a little more than half the time. He also zeroed in on behavior patterns and subconscious fears that limited or even subverted investment goals. Part of his work, he often said, was to force traders to see their tendency toward denial and rationalization. An athlete who wants to run a four-minute mile can work backward and establish a regimen to attain that, said Matt Grossman, who worked with Mr. Kiev at SAC and now runs his own hedge fund, Plural Investments. Ari applied this concept to investing: set a target, then design an approach that gives you a high probability of achieving that target. Dr. Kievs boundless curiosity made him a perpetual student. After appearing often as an expert witness in court cases, he decided to go to law school to learn more about the legal system. He earned a degree
www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/business/30kiev.html?_r=0 2/4

9/8/13

Ari Kiev, Psychiatrist to Athletes and Traders, Dies at 75 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

from New York Law School in 1988. At his death he was working toward a masters degree in executive health care at George Washington University. In addition to his son Marshall, of Westport, Conn., Dr. Kiev is survived by his wife, Phyllis; another son, Jon, of Annapolis, Md.; and four grandchildren. His book The Mental Strategies of Top Traders is scheduled to be published in December by Wiley.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 30, 2009, on page A29 of the New York edition.

More Articles in Business

SIGN IN TO EMAIL PRINT REPRINTS

Try unlimited access to NYTimes.com for just 99. SEE OPTIONS Past Coverage ANXIETY ! (October 4, 2009) Task to Aid Self-Esteem Lifts Grades For Some (April 17, 2009) SHORTCUTS; Multitasking Can Make Y ou Lose ... Um ... Focus (October 25, 2008) How to Treat a 'Money Disorder' (September 25, 2008) Related Searches Stress (Human) Psychology and Psychologists Kiev, Ari Deaths (Obituaries)
Get E-Mail Alerts Get E-Mail Alerts Get E-Mail Alerts Get E-Mail Alerts

INSIDE NYTIMES.COM
MOVIES FASHION & STYLE MAGAZINE SUNDAY REVIEW THEATER SUNDAY REVIEW

Editorial: Banning a PseudoTherapy

20 Directors to Watch Weddings & Celebrations The Steely, Headless King of Texas Hold Em

The old idea that homosexuality is Twos Company, an illness to be cured may at last Threes a Show be headed for the trash heap.

Curtis Sittenfeld: EpiPens for All

www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/business/30kiev.html?_r=0

3/4

9/8/13
Home World U.S. N.Y. / Region

Ari Kiev, Psychiatrist to Athletes and Traders, Dies at 75 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com
Business Technology Science Automobiles Health Sports Back to Top Opinion Corrections Arts Style RSS Travel First Look Jobs Help Real Estate Contact Us

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service Search Work for Us Site Map

www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/business/30kiev.html?_r=0

4/4