Frank Pittman

Who was Frank Pittman?

Frank Smith Pittman, III, M.D. was an American psychiatrist and author. He wrote a regular column, "Ask Dr. Frank", which used to appear in Psychology Today.

During his lifetime, he was a "widely quoted author" of Man Enough: Fathers, Sons and the Search for Masculinity and Private Lies: Infidelity and Betrayal of Intimacy. He was also author of books Grow Up!: How Taking Responsibility Can Make You a Happy Adult, and Turning Points: Treating Families in Transition and Crisis.

Dr. Pittman practiced out of Atlanta, Georgia, where he was active as a psychiatrist and family therapist from 1962 until his death in 2012. Both of Dr. Pittman's daughters are psychologists.

Infidelity was a central focus of Dr. Pittman's work. In a 1993 article for Psychology Today, he wrote:

"Day after day in my office I see men and women who have been messing around. They lead secret lives, as they hide themselves from their marriages. They go through wrenching divorces, inflicting pain on their children and their children's children. Or they make desperate, tearful, sweaty efforts at holding on to the shreds of a life they've betrayed. They tell me they have gone through all of this for a quick thrill or a furtive moment of romance. Sometimes they tell me they don't remember making the decision that tore apart their life: 'It just happened.' Sometimes they don't even know they are being unfaithful. From the outside looking in, it is insane. How could anyone risk everything in life on the turn of a screw?"