Charlotte Sophia Kasl (née Davis; August 19, 1938 â August 7, 2021) was an American psychologist and author.
Born Charlotte Davis on August 19, 1938, in Missoula, Montana, her parents were Mary Shope and Kenneth Pickett Davis. From an early age she showed a talent for piano and at age 17 she was teaching four of her own students. At the University of Michigan she earned her BA in Music and MA in Piano. She pursued piano studies for many years before becoming disillusioned with "the prospects of a music career in a department steeped in patriarchy."
Now using her married name Charlotte Kasl, she began studying psychology and in 1982, received her PhD in Counseling at Ohio University, which allowed her to "merge her deep and profound interests in complex family dynamics and relationships with the cultural context of feminism and sexual politics."
She pioneered the 16-Steps for Discovery and Empowerment as an alternative to the Twelve-step program for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems.
She wrote several books based on some aspects of Sufi, Quaker, and Buddhist spiritual beliefs and traditions.
Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity, 1997.
Kasl died on August 7, 2021, at the age of 82.