J. Anderson Thomson
J. Anderson Thomson Jr. is an American psychiatrist and writer. He serves as staff psychiatrist at the University of Virginia Student Health Center and works with UVA’s Institute for Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy. He also maintains a private practice and works as a forensic psychiatrist for Region Ten Community Services. Thomson is a Trustee of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and a board member of the Center for Inquiry.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a medical degree from the University of Virginia, with adult psychiatry training at UVA in the 1970s. Thomson has published on topics including racism, narcissistic personality disorder, forensic psychiatry, depression and PTSD. He is known for his work in evolutionary psychology and for exploring how cognitive and evolutionary factors shape religious belief; his book Why We Believe in God(s) offers a concise look at this science. He has spoken at atheist conferences about the cognitive origins of belief and is a board member of the Center for Inquiry.
In his youth, Thomson was influenced by conspiracy theories about JFK, but after reading Gerald Posner’s Case Closed he concluded Oswald acted alone. He wrote a long paper on Oswald’s mental state, concluding that Oswald was bipolar and had suffered sexual abuse by his mother.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:23 (CET).