Dr. Philip Zimbardo (1933-2024)

For nearly twenty years it’s been my honor and privilege to be a colleague, writing partner and most importantly, a friend of Phil Zimbardo’s. It is with great sadness that I share that Phil, at the age of 91, peacefully passed away on October 14, 2024. He was surrounded by his loving wife Christina Maslach – a giant in the field of psychology in her own right – and their children at his home in San Francisco.

The last time perspective therapy book we co-authored together, Seeing Through the Grief: A Time Perspective Therapy Approach, was published in April 2024. As we discuss in the book’s introduction, we felt it important to share what we had learned over the years about grief and loss, including some of our personal experiences.

That said, and with a very heavy heart, this last remaining TPT Mohican is viewing life through a different lens. A sadder lens. It was hard carrying on the last ten years without my husband and colleague Rick. Now that my mentor and guide, Phil, has also moved on, it’s time for me too as well. I hope we’ve provided you with the necessary tools in the books and articles we’ve written to feel a little better equipped to deal with the stress and trials we experience throughout the years. It has been our goal from the start to help as many people as possible to live a more compassionate and meaningful life. 

I’ll continue writing, but it will be fiction. After decades of researching and often reporting about the darker aspects of human nature, writing about other things will be a welcome change.

And now, I bid you farewell and to my buddy Phil, the fondest aloha ‘oe: until we meet again, my friend.

Rose Sword, October 17, 2024

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The Z Team was a cadre of researchers, clinicians, media experts and academicians devoted to exploring the efficacy of time perspective therapy. Philip Zimbardo, Rosemary Sword, and until his death in 2014, Richard Sword, headed up the team. These pioneers were dubbed The Z Team by the Swords in honor of Phil and also as the antithesis of The A Team, the highly trained special forces who enter dangerous situations. The mission of The Z-Team was to research, document, publish articles and books, and in general spread the word in the psychological community and the world about the importance of the ZTPI as a psychological scale, Temporal Theory and Time Perspective Therapy.  One of The Z Team’s goals was to help alleviate the psychological damage experienced by those affected by traumatic experiences.

Philip Zimbardo, PhD, (1933 - 2024) was internationally recognized as “the voice and face of contemporary psychology” through his widely viewed PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology, his media appearances, his bestselling trade books, including The Time Paradox: Reconstructing the Past, Enjoying the Present, Mastering the Future (with John Boyd, Free Press, 2008), and The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, (Random House, 2007, paperback 2008), and his classic research, The Stanford Prison Experiment.

Phil was a Stanford University professor starting in 1968 and was emeritus until his passing, having taught previously at Yale, NYU, and Columbia University. He also taught at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California (courses on the psychology of terrorism), and was a professor at Palo Alto University, in California (teaching social psychology to clinical graduate students). Phil was President of the American Psychological Association (2002), President of the Western Psychological Association (twice), Chair of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (SCCP) and the Western Psychological Foundation, as well as the Director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Policy, Education, and Research on Terrorism (CIPERT).

He received numerous awards and honors as an educator, researcher, writer, media contributor, and for service to the profession of psychology. He was awarded the Vaclav Havel Foundation Prize for his lifetime of research on the human condition as well as the American Psychological Association’s prestigious 2012 Gold Medal in Science Award. Among his more than 600 professional publications, including 70 trade and textbooks, is the oldest current textbook in psychology, Psychology and Life (currently in its 20th edition), and Core Concepts in Psychology, now in its seventh edition.

Phil’s increasing interest in his time perspective theory lead him to consult with Rick and Rose Sword in regards to their development of his theory into an efficacious, therapy/training. Phil coauthored The Time Cure, and along with Rose, coauthored a popular Psychology Today Time Cure blog column.  Phil was also founder of The Heroic Imagination Project (HIP), a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and empowering individuals to take heroic action during crucial moments in their lives.  

Richard Sword, PhD, (1947 - 2014) was a practicing clinical psychologist on the island of Maui for thirty years before his death in 2014. A graduate of the University of Florida and Saybrook Institute, Rick taught at the University of Florida and the University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus. In the early 1980s he became interested in the treatment of post-trauma and became an expert in post-traumatic stress disorder. He was a lead psychologist for the National Disaster Medical System, Region IX and was deployed to over 30 nationally declared disasters. As his clinic was in Hawaii, he was afforded the opportunity to work cross-culturally and was adept at helping people of many cultures. He considered his crowning career achievement to be helping thousands of seasoned veterans from 6 “wars” (WWII, Korean, Vietnam, First Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan) which lead him and his wife Rose to the development of Time Perspective Therapy in 2008/2009. Along with Phil and Rose, Rick was co-author of The Time Cure as well as peer-reviewed Time Perspective Therapy journal articles. 

Rosemary Sword is a Time Perspective Therapist. As part of her Hawaiian heritage, she was trained in the Hawaiian psychology based on forgiveness known as ho’oponopono (literally “to make right”). She has practiced this form of healing for 40 years. Along with her husband, Richard Sword, she developed Time Perspective Therapy. Rose coauthored The Time Cure (with Phil Zimbardo and Rick Sword) published in English, Wiley (2012), German, Russian, Chinese, Polish and Italian, The Time Cure – Therapist’s Guidebook, Wiley (2012), Time Perspective Theory; Review, Research and Application, Essays in Honor of Philip G. Zimbardo, Springer (2015), Living and Loving Better, McFarland (2017), Seeing Through the Grief: A Time Perspective Therapy Approach, McFarland (2024), as well as chapters in several books and psychological journal articles. Rose and Phil coauthored a popular Psychology Today blog column and have published 150 time perspective articles ranging from bullying and shyness to toxic relationships, and happiness versus living a meaningful life to coping with grief and loss.

Rose and Phil teamed up with a Polish media corporation to develop the first of its kind: a time perspective therapy “nanodegree” (on-line certification.) After successful completion of the pilot project, there are now nearly 200 time perspective therapists in Poland. Rose also assisted Phil in working with representatives of China to introduce them to the benefits of time perspective therapy. They also created two free Time Perspective Therapy-based 4-week tracks for Happify.com (see Links page).

Brian Metcalf, PhD, is Associate Professor-Educator, Department of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. Originally from Stevens Point, WI, he previously taught and conducted research at Morris Brown College, and before that, at the University of Georgia, where he earned his MS and PhD in biopsychology.  He was invited in 2012 by Dr. Zimbardo to be a member of the Z Team.  Metcalf also collaborates with Zimbardo on his Heroic Imagination Project, training his students in the skills and awareness needed to create lasting positive change in their own lives and the lives of others around them.

Joseph Lenz, PhD, is a private practice clinical psychologist in Bellingham, WA. His rich background in humanities, education, scientific psychology and Time Perspective Therapy affords a unique opportunity for people seeking a happier, more fulfilling life.  His focus in therapy is complex anxiety, including trauma, OCD and anxiety arising from medical problems. Along with working with people of all ages and walks of life, he is authorized by the Veterans Choice program to conduct therapy with veterans as a civilian psychologist. 

Bob Hollis, PhD, is an educator in the Bay Area. Retired from the military, Bob is a Vietnam veteran, and has taken up the battle for veterans’ rights. He is currently working on creating a course in Veteran Culture which will include Time Perspective Therapy as a means to overcoming PTSD.

Sarah Brunskill and Anthony Ferreras are former grad students; they worked with Phil, Rick and Rose on the Time Perspective Therapy pilot study and subsequent journal articles. Sarah and Anthony also conducted research for Phil in regards to The Social Intensity Syndrome.

Mike Yannell, Ella Sword and Ryan Daley were undergrad students and assisted in the TPT pilot study.