Dr Claire Weekes pioneered a self-help method to cure nervously ill people. Her first book “Self Help for Your Nerves” (Australia) or “Hope and Help for Your Nerves” (USA) was published in 1962 and is still published today. She has helped hundreds of thousands of sufferers all over the world. Her relatives and heirs wish to continue to promote her work and have set up this site in her honour. Wee
kes, Hazel Claire (1903-1990) - Scientist and Medical Doctor
Qualifications: MBE (1979) BSc Syd (1926) DSc Syd (1930) MB BS Syd (1945) MRACP (1955) Member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, FRACP (1973) - Elected Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Nominated in 1989 for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and for the Order of Australia by Robert L. DuPont, M.D. President of The Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. Rockville, Maryland USA. Hazel Claire Weekes (1903 - 1990), zoologist and physician, was born on 3 April 1903 at Paddington, Sydney, eldest of four children of Sydney born parents Ralph Weekes, musician, and his wife Fanny Florence, nēe Newland. Following her education at Sydney Girls' High School, Claire enrolled in science at the University of Sydney (B.Sc., 1926; D.Sc., 1930). She was awarded the Yaralla Scholarship. In 1922 - 23 she was resident at the Women's College (at that time the fees were twelve guineas per annum,) A brilliant student, she graduated with first-class honours and the university medal in zoology and became a science research scholar of the university. Her doctoral thesis was on 'Placentation Amongst Reptiles and Its Possible Bearing upon the Evolutionary History of Mammals'. Her work on viviparous reptiles was the first systematic study of their placentation and was well regarded in Australia and the United States of America. The first woman to receive a Doctorate of Science from the University of Sydney, she was a Macleay fellow of the Linnean Society of New South Wales in 1927 -29 and 1932 - 34. She had two major successful career paths, Science, was her first. In 1929-31 Weekes worked at University College, London, on a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship. On her return to Australia she discovered academic opportunities in zoology in Sydney were sparse. She decided she did not want to become a teacher or to spend her life in a laboratory so she left Science. To this day she is still highly regarded by her fellow scientists for her previous work in this field. She had a fine voice and a particular interest in German Lieder. In 1933-35 she took singing lessons at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. She then travelled extensively in Europe studying music, with her friend Elizabeth (Beth) Coleman, a teacher at the Conservatorium. She wanted to study the physiology and physics of singing to equip her later to "make singers”. Her voice was badly affected by climatic conditions and she recognised that a career in singing was not possible. In her eighties she still had a lovely singing voice. On her return in 1937, two years before the Second World War, she opened a European Travel Advice Bureau in Sydney, 'planning whole tours economically,’ and in 1938-39 wrote about travel in a column in the Sunday Sun and Guardian. War put an end to travel plans. Embarking on her second amazing career in 1941, Weekes entered second-year medicine at the University of Sydney (MB, 1945; BS, 1974). She became a general practitioner in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and in 1955, at the age of 52, she successfully took the examination for membership of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Fellow 1973) and practiced in Macquarie Street as a physician. At the Rachel Forster Hospital in Sydney she was an assistant physician (1947- 55), physician (1955 - 61) and consulting physician (from 1962). Her major contributions, however, were in the field of psychiatry, in which she had no formal postgraduate qualifications. Applying kindness, understanding and common sense to the treatment of neuroses, she was always available to her patients, she consulted people worldwide by telephone. Her phone bills were astronomical. She wrote several books, including Self-Help for Your Nerves (1962), Peace from Nervous Suffering (1972), Agoraphobia: Simple, Effective Treatment (1977) and More Help for Your Nerves (1984). The first of these had sold more than four hundred thousand copies by 1978 and was translated into many languages; the current ones are Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Polish. Her methods, which involved accepting symptoms and 'floating,' were more highly regarded by her patients than by her colleagues, but many of them are now incorporated into the management of neuroses. She had many struggles with her contemporaries, in particular psychiatrists, over her method and at one time a colleague called it “homespun philosophy.”
Weekes lived abroad for a number of years and was well known in Britain, the United States and Canada. In demand as a public speaker on anxiety, she broadcast on radio and appeared on television while in England. Her work was recorded on audiocassettes and videotape. She was appointed MBE in December 1978. She never married, and was close to her siblings and three of her nieces. She shared the joys of life as well as learning. She was very “family” orientated and provided a lovely home at Cremorne, Sydney, for four generations, her mother, her sister, three nieces and two great nephews. She ensured all had a good education and lacked for nothing. She never counted the cost. Her understanding of nervous illness came as a result of her own experience, which she explained, her last book, The Latest Help for Your Nerves (1989). She began suffering when she was 26 years old in London and she was misdiagnosed with TB, she became introverted and worried. Her suffering lasted two years, and gave her invaluable insight into nervous illness. Dr. Robert L. Dupont of White Plains Hospital, New York, asked her if she'd ever had panic disorder. She replied, "Yes, I have had what you call panic attacks. In fact, I still have them. Sometimes they wake me at night." Dr. Dupont responded by saying "He was sorry to hear that." He described Claire Weekes as looking at him in shock, for which she responded "Save your sympathy for someone else. I don't need it or want it. What you call a panic attack is merely a few normal chemicals that are temporarily out of place in my brain. It is of no significance whatsoever to me!"
Weekes wrote “The Latest Help for Your Nerves” after recovering from a brain aneurysm when she was 84. This was no mean feat, as she was weak, exhausted and had small lapses of memory regarding words. It is the culmination of her life's work, of which she was very proud and gratified, and for which she was honoured. Today her method is highly regarded and saves and changes the lives of so many grateful, nervously ill people worldwide. She died on 2 June 1990 at Warriewood, Sydney, and was cremated. She is missed by her loving and proud family. Compiled by : Frances J Maclaren (niece to Dr. Claire Weekes)
