Allen J. Enelow, 83; Psychiatrist, Educator Taught at UCLA, USC

Dr. Allen J. Enelow, 83, a psychiatrist and educator in medical schools such as at UCLA, USC and UC San Francisco, died Saturday at his home in Santa Barbara after a long illness.

Enelow was an advocate of doctors using psychological techniques that included careful listening and observation to treat patients’ physical ailments. He studied videotapes of physicians interacting with patients and, based on his findings, with Murray Wexlar co-wrote the 1966 book “Psychiatry in the Practice of Medicine.”

He also co-wrote the 1972 textbook “Interviewing and Patient Care,” which is still in use by medical schools, and the 1977 book “Elements of Psychotherapy,” among others.

Born in Pittsburgh, Enelow earned a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University and a medical degree from the University of Louisville. He helped found the department of psychiatry at Michigan State University and headed it from 1967 to 1972. During his later teaching stints in California medical schools, he conducted a private practice in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, and since 1992 in Santa Barbara.