 Boston was the center of a local "medical psychotherapy" tradition going back to the 1890s when William James, Josiah Royce, Hugo Munsterberg and Boris Sidis developed individualized techniques for the relief of mental distress.The psychiatric professionals of the 19th century, alienists and neurologists, were primarily concerned with severe pathology such as schizophrenia and mania.Little attention was paid to milder mental conditions.