Dr. John Desneval Moriarty; Psychiatrist and Alcoholism Expert

Dr. John Desneval Moriarty, 78, Hollywood psychiatrist who was an expert on alcoholism. A native of Jacksonville, Ill., Moriarty was educated at Illinois College and Northwestern University Medical School. He served as a Navy psychiatrist during World War II and later set up practice in Hollywood. Although he treated many film stars, he steadfastly refused to discuss them either in interviews or in his writings. As a trustee of the National Alcoholism Foundation, Moriarty helped establish a center for the study of alcoholism. He also taught psychiatric residents at Veterans Hospital on the Westside for 16 years and wrote more than 40 articles for scientific journals. Advocating physical and chemical treatment as well as talk therapy for psychiatric disorders, Moriarty last year completed a book, “Psychiatric Treatment Is Much More Than Psychotherapy.” On Sunday in Fallbrook, Calif.