Are You Registered Yet?

The events run from July 15-17. Conference information and registration details are HERE

Call For Proposals

All proposals must be sent in online. Submit Proposals Here

Winners In The News!

Mira Erlich-Ginor of PCCA discusses the origins of the organization and working with the current atrocities in Ukraine. Tune in:

Episode 110: PCCA (Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities) and Working with Ukrainian Current Atrocities with Mira Erlich-Ginor – IPA Off the Couch

SAVE THE DATE/UPCOMING PROGRAM

PCCA invites you to participate in a virtual event aimed at providing a space to reflect on the war in Ukraine and its reverberations. 

We are all involved in different ways, influenced and possibly influencing.
You are invited to join.
The Event will take place 2-4 September, 12:00-18:00 London time

Busting Sigourney Award Myths #2

MYTH:

The Sigourney Award is limited to a particular form of psychoanalytic treatment whether it be academic, clinical, or applied

TRUTH:

The Trust recognizes outstanding work that:

• applies psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic principles to other fields and disciplines including anthropology, arts and humanities, child development, criminology, law, medicine, philosophy, psychology, and sociology;

• applies psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic principles to advance the public good and/or

• uses psychoanalytic principles to transform the human experience for the better.

Work completed within the past 10 years can be considered. Apply or nominate! Applications are due by July 31, 2022.

Winners On Stage

On Tuesday, June 7 at 8 pm EST, Jorge Ulnik, M.D., Ph.D., one of The Sigourney Award-2021 winners, will be presenting “Perception, mark and representation: Three cardinal points to guide a psychosomatic theory and practice” at the upcoming NYPSI 1057th Scientific Meeting.

Read More and Mark Your Calendar!

Busting Sigourney Award Myths

Myth 1: I can't win the Award until I've worked for 20+ years. 
The Sigourney Award has never been a lifetime achievement award. In fact, Mary Sigourney specifically required that eligible work must be accomplished within 10 years of the award year. For 2022, only work completed between 2011 – 2021 can be considered.

Myth 2: I can only apply every three years, in English. 
There is no longer a geographic rotation for applications. Organizations, groups, and individuals may submit work for consideration each year from anyplace in the world in ~150 languages (via our online translation).

Myth 3: My work must be nominated for the Award. 
You do NOT need a nomination to apply. All applicants, whether they are nominated or applying directly for the Award, must complete the same application process. Feel free to nominate or encourage others to apply.

If you believe your work or that of another individual, team or organization is deserving of The Sigourney Award, please visit or share this page: https://www.sigourneyaward.org/apply

Applications are due by July 31, 2022. 

Dr. Heli Morales, Shares His Work With IPA Off The Couch

Dr. Morales, a Sigourney Award-2020 recipient, was recently featured in the podcast IPA Off The Couch. Recorded in Spanish and transcribed, he describes his efforts to expand the social and community benefits of psychoanalysis, mainly working with women victims of violence and with relatives of the disappeared.

Tune in Here

Press Release: The Sigourney Award-2022 Application Period Open Now Through July 31

It’s time! For those with eligible work completed between 2011 – 2021, applications are now open and able to be submitted in more than 100 languages via our website. This press release details the The Sigourney Award-2022 and application requirements. For those who have work to submit, we encourage application today through July 31, 2022. Winning work is recognized in November and recipients receive worldwide recognition and a significant cash prize.

The Sigourney Trust Issues Call For Entries Of Psychoanalytic Work Eligible To Win The Sigourney Award-2022

Applications For The Sigourney Award-2022 Accepted March 1 Through July 31

Seattle, WA — Mar. 1, 2022 – Each year The Sigourney Trust honors up to four individuals, groups or organizations with an independent prize, The Sigourney Award. This prestigious international award honors recent outstanding achievements in psychoanalytic work. Winning work earns The Sigourney Award, international recognition, plus a cash prize ranging between $25,000 and $40,000. The application period opens today and closes July 31, 2022.

“Our founder Mary Sigourney sought to reward efforts that were applied, as well as clinical or scholarly. She wanted to recognize work that crossed all human and geographical boundaries as well as professional categories to emphasize how psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic thought intersects with academic, humanitarian, and arts-focused fields, and we encourage those whose work meets these criteria to apply,” says Robin A. Deutsch, PhD, Analyst Trustee for The Sigourney Trust which was founded in 1989.

To be considered for The Sigourney Award-2022, submitted work must be innovative, promote the understanding or evolution of psychoanalysis and/or psychoanalytic thought and have been accomplished between 2011-2021. To accommodate the international audience submitting work for consideration, qualifying work is submitted through an online application that can be translated into more than 100 languages. Application instructions and requirements for eligibility can be reviewed online. Applications will be accepted through July 31, 2022.

A confidential panel of international judges, each with distinguished roles within the international psychoanalytic community, adhere to the Trust’s mission and retain anonymity to support an unbiased and thorough evaluation process. The Sigourney Award-2022 recipients will be announced in November.

“The Sigourney Award has purposefully increased its international reach and evolved as the world has changed. We receive impressive submissions from all over the globe for work dedicated to positively impacting the human experience with traditional and non-traditional psychoanalytic applications,” says Barbara Sherland, JD, Attorney Co-trustee.

Applicants who do not win are welcome to enter again. For information and application, visit www.sigourneyaward.org. Follow updates via social platforms on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn @SigourneyAward, and Twitter @sigourney_the.

Download Full Press Release

Elle-Argentina Focuses on Emotional Affects on Skin with Dr. Jorge Ulnik

Real world results of emotional affects on your skin are discussed in Elle – Argentina with Dr. Jorge Ulnik, whose work in psychosomatics and psychodermatology earned The Sigourney Award-2021.  “The skin is the barrier and at the same time the screen for outward emotions and is one of the organs most affected by stress,” he explains.

Read Full Article Here

Podcast and Video Discussion Shares Work Of One Sigourney Award-2021 Winner

Work by Dr. David Scharff with Dr. Jill Savege Scharff won The Sigourney Award-2021 recognition. Arash’s World Podcast caught up with David to discuss the remote/distance education for psychotherapists around the world.

Arash’s World based in Vancouver, BC focuses on existential issues and solutions in health and wellness, psychology, and philosophy.

Click to find both a link to the podcast and a YouTube video of the segment.  

Robin A. Deutsch, PhD Joins The Sigourney Trust as Analyst Co-Trustee

Attorney Co-trustee Barbara Sherland, JD has announced Robin A. Deutsch, PhD, a private practice clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, as Analytic Co-trustee for The Sigourney Trust. Dr. Deutsch succeeds William A. Myerson, PhD, MBA, who served a dynamic and impactful 10-year term as Analyst Co-trustee for the private trust established in 1989. In January 2022, Deutsch began her role, partnering with Sherland to oversee the independent Trust’s mission of rewarding and promoting psychoanalytic thought that contributes to the betterment of humankind, as established by founder Mary Sigourney.

________________

Prestigious Sigourney Award Annually Presented By The Sigourney Trust Recognizes Outstanding Psychoanalytic Achievement Worldwide

Seattle, WA – Feb. 9, 2022 -- –  Robin A. Deutsch, Ph.D., a private practice clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, has been named Analyst Co-trustee for The Sigourney Trust, according to Attorney Co-trustee Barbara Sherland, J.D. In this role, Dr. Deutsch will partner with Sherland to oversee the independent Trust’s mission of rewarding and promoting psychoanalytic thought that contributes to the betterment of humankind, as established by founder Mary Sigourney.

Dr. Deutsch succeeds William A. Myerson, Ph.D., MBA, who served a dynamic and impactful 10-year term as Analyst Co-trustee for the private trust established in 1989.

“As the field of psychoanalysis evolves, The Sigourney Trust has refined and repositioned itself to achieve Mary Sigourney’s vision. Bill’s astute contributions were instrumental in navigating these changes and in seeking more inclusiveness and diversity,” says Sherland. “The Sigourney Award has significantly increased its international presence and impact through Bill’s partnership and guidance. Robin and I are dedicated to carrying on Bill’s excellent work,” she adds.

Reflecting on his tenure, Dr. Myerson explained that The Sigourney Award is “in a constant state of dynamic tension” between rewarding recent work in psychoanalysis while inspiring those within the fields of clinical and applied psychoanalysis and any endeavor that employs psychoanalytic thought to continue generating new thinking and practices. The Trust is constantly seeking the best work worldwide that uses psychoanalytic thinking to provide a positive impact on humanity.

“Ten years ago, very few awards were conferred, and very little work was being done for projects that we call ‘applied psychoanalytic endeavors, or for ventures that weren’t theoretic or solely academic,’ but that actually impact people’s lives,” says Dr. Myerson. “I am confident that Robin’s fresh perspectives and exceptional experience in the field will provide guidance needed to further expand the reach and impact of The Sigourney Award. Her outstanding international experience will be especially valuable.”

Dr. Deutsch joins the team as a 40-year licensed clinical psychologist. Currently, she is also a Training and Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, a Personal Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, and on faculty at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. Recently, she served as president of the North American Psychoanalytic Confederation (2018-2021).

“As a practicing clinical psychoanalyst, I am passionate about what psychoanalytic thinking brings to the clinical encounter. Mary Sigourney established The Sigourney Trust and Award because she was passionate about psychoanalytic thinking writ large: in clinical theory and practice, in the arts, humanities and sciences, and humanitarian endeavors,” says Dr. Deutsch.  “I am honored to join the Sigourney Trust as the newest Analyst Co-trustee entrusted to further Mary’s vision.”

After earning her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology (Berkeley, California), Dr. Deutsch graduated from the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis in Adult Psychoanalysis.

In addition to her many other career achievements, Dr Deutsch edited a book entitled Traumatic Ruptures: Abandonment and Betrayal in the Analytic Relation, New York, Routledge (2014), as well as multiple papers on professional identity, termination of treatment, and issues relating to therapist aging and death. She served as a visiting professor at the Kazakhstan National Psychoanalytic Institute in Almaty, Kazakhstan (2009). Dr. Deutsch is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA); International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA); San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (SFCP); Northern California Society of Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP); Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC) and the International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP).

Visit www.sigourneyaward.org for more information. Stay updated via social platforms for The Sigourney Award on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn @SigourneyAward, and Twitter @sigourney_the.

About The Sigourney Award
The Sigourney Trust, an independent nonprofit organization established by Mary Sigourney in 1989, annually bestows The Sigourney Award as international recognition and reward for outstanding work that employs psychoanalytic thinking and practice to benefit humankind. Ms. Sigourney was a psychotherapist, publisher, and community activist who had a passionate interest in psychoanalysis and understood its ability to benefit and extend human conversation across various disciplines. To date, 136 Award recipients from 22 countries represent her global vision. The ground-breaking work honored by The Sigourney Award has significantly contributed to human affairs on topics ranging from clinical psychoanalysis, neuroscience, feminism, and political oppression.

Download Full Press Release

Arash’s World Podcast Features 2021 Award Recipients

New international media is focused on The Sigourney Award-2021 winning work. In this podcast of Arash’s World, psychologist and psychoanalyst Jane Tillman, who accepted the award on behalf of the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center. Discusses triggers and warning signs of suicide as well as suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and much more.

Arash’s World based in Vancouver, BC focuses on existential issues and solutions in health and wellness, psychology, and philosophy. The Sigourney Award-2021 recipients have all had the pleasure of speaking with Arash. Tune in to learn key insights and even additional interests each has offered in individual podcasts and accompanying YouTube videos.

Podcast Link

YouTube Video Link

Dr. William A. Myerson, co-trustee of The Sigourney Award, speaks to Psychiatric Times

During the discussion, he touches upon the work rewarded with The Sigourney Award-2021 and how each found a compelling way to expand the boundaries of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic thinking.

Learn about The Sigourney Trust’s evolution during Dr. Myerson’s ten-year tenure, and how the Trust has embraced technology to increase accessibility for upcoming applicants who seek recognition through the international and wholly-independent Award.

Click Here to Watch 

Press Release for The Sigourney Award-2021

The Sigourney Award-2021 Honors Three Recipients With Distinguished International Prize for Advancing Psychoanalytic Thought
Independent Panel of Judges Select Psychoanalytic Work With Impact From Argentina and the USA

Seattle, WA — Nov. 18, 2021 – The Sigourney Award annually rewards achievements that advance psychoanalytic thought and practice with international recognition and a substantial cash prize. This year, a panel of distinguished judges evaluated applications from five continents for The Sigourney Award-2021. The work recognized represents significant advancement of psychoanalytic thought. Today, William A. Myerson, Ph.D., MBA, and psychoanalyst co-trustee of The Sigourney Trust, announces three winners whose work merits the prestigious, independent award.

Mary Sigourney founded The Sigourney Trust in 1989 to recognize and promote exceptional work that employs psychoanalytic thought to better humankind.

“Selecting outstanding work that contributes to and strengthens the future of psychoanalytic thought while aiding humanity is the daunting responsibility of our esteemed, independent judging panel,” says Dr. Myerson. “The impact of this year’s award-winning work truly spans the globe, including treatment and education of people in China, Israel, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, South America and beyond. We applaud the continuing expansion and application of psychoanalytic thinking around the world,” he adds.

The Sigourney Award-2021 Winning Work (Alpha order)

Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center
(MASSACHUSETTS, USA)
The nonprofit Erikson Institute demonstrates a significant commitment to, and investment in providing public and professional education about psychoanalysis as a clinical discipline and an applied theory for understanding human experience. The work contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship within psychoanalysis, between psychoanalysis and other related fields, and provides incubator support for projects in applied psychoanalysis that range from responding to local needs of schools, children, and families to understanding international conflicts. The Erikson Institute’s focus on youth, linking access to the arts with mental health, is a noteworthy innovation that expands psychoanalytic thinking beyond traditional clinical and academic boundaries, particularly within the context of limited arts education in schools and social isolation resulting from the pandemic. Through its Erikson Scholar program, interdisciplinary scholars have been invited to Riggs for three- to four-month research-based intellectual and clinical immersion residencies. Presenting its psychoanalytic identity in both clinical and public domains, the Erikson Institute has impacted new audiences through novel approaches. The Arts in Mind program and Creativity Seminars explore the connection between the arts and mental health, expanding reach beyond traditional clinical and academic boundaries. Research in psychoanalytic approaches to understanding suicide and personality, and advocacy for access to care with national impact are additional contributions.

Accepting the award on behalf of the Erikson Institute is Jane G. Tillman, PhD.

David Scharff, M.D., FABP and Jill Savege Scharff, M.D., FABP, MRC. Psych
(MARYLAND, USA)

The work of David Scharff, M.D., FABP and Jill Savege Scharff, M.D., FABP, MRC. Psych, Maryland-based partners, adapts psychoanalysis for those far from a psychoanalytic center and educating analysts to address remote treatment needs. Embracing teaching at the heart of their work, the Scharffs’ remote teaching and treatment work was accomplished in large part through the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) they co-founded, and as Supervising Analysts at the International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training (IIPT at IPI) and Teaching Analysts at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. The Scharffs developed an innovative, analytic training methodology and paved a non-traditional path to deliver analysis remotely. The new training methodology allowed the application of psychoanalytic approaches to family and couple psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, while their early adoption of technology expanded access to psychoanalytic psychotherapy in areas and countries previously beyond reach. Long before the pandemic forced psychoanalytic clinicians to endorse remote learning and service delivery, the Scharffs’ work employed videoconference technology in certificate programs that have reached psychoanalytically oriented trainees in the United States, China, Russia, and Latin America, with additional programming that enabled them to reach trainees and colleagues in such locations as Greece, Austria, South Africa, New Zealand, and Israel. Their books and articles have reached a worldwide audience through translations into eight languages, while their contribution to the dissemination of free e-books expanded access to psychoanalytic literature for readers in 200 countries and territories.

Dr. Jorge Claudio Ulnik
(BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA)

The innovative psychosomatic and psychodermatologic work developed by Dr. Jorge Ulnik exemplifies the important work being done on the mind-body relationship from a psychoanalytic perspective. Dr. Ulnik is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and Associate Professor of Pathophysiology and Psychosomatic Diseases and Adjunct Professor of Mental Health at the Buenos Aires University in Argentina. His work represents an innovation that continues the work of Freud ("the skin is the erogenous zone par excellence") and pioneers such as Enrique Pichón-Rivière, Max Schur, Didier Anzieu, Esther Bick, and others. At the psychosomatic dermatology center founded by Dr. Ulnik, dermatologists refer patients to psychoanalytic therapy, continuing and strengthening psychoanalytic perspectives into areas primarily thought of as medical. Dr. Ulnik's work has helped to revitalize psychosomatic research, theory, and practice in Latin America, Spain, and Russia. His work also reached Europe, North America, Australia, South Korea, and Israel, encouraging renewed interest in research, and promoting awareness of psychoanalysis’ importance in the treatment of somatic diseases. The work encouraged doctors and patients to work with psychoanalysts and advanced psychoanalytic understanding of emotional engagement expressed by the body and specially by the skin. Presentations of this work in many cities where psychoanalytic approaches are not integrated into medical practices have supported the importance of psychoanalysis in treating psychosomatic disorders, and trained doctors and general practitioners to understand the mind-body connection.

“The caliber of the 2021 applicants’ work and the expansive reach achieved through training, learning, and clinical application across the globe is inspiring. We look forward to continuing to expand public awareness of the benefits of psychoanalytic thinking and practice. We are excited by the new and innovative ways that psychoanalytic approaches are being used to benefit the human experience,” says Barbara Sherland, J.D., attorney co-trustee of The Sigourney Trust.

Download Full Press Release

Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center Wins The Sigourney Award-2021

Work by Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center Wins The Sigourney Award-2021

Seattle, WA — Nov. 18, 2021 – The Sigourney Award annually rewards achievements that advance psychoanalytic thought with international recognition and a substantial cash prize. This year’s distinguished panel of independent judges evaluated work submitted from five continents. Today, William A. Myerson, Ph.D., MBA, and co-trustee of The Sigourney Trust announces the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center’s work as one of three honored with The Sigourney Award-2021.

Work by the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts demonstrates a significant commitment to, and investment in providing public and professional education about psychoanalysis as a clinical discipline and an applied theory for understanding human experience. The work contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship within psychoanalysis, between psychoanalysis and other related fields, and provides incubator support for projects in applied psychoanalysis that range from responding to local needs of schools, children, and families to understanding international conflicts.

“Supporting Mary Sigourney’s intentions for the award, work by the Erikson Institute helps expand the beneficial elements of psychoanalytic thought to diverse communities around the world,” says William A. Myerson, Ph.D., MBA, the Trust’s psychoanalytic co-trustee. “Offering a focus on public outreach to youth and communities, and an innovative linking of the arts with mental health, especially important amidst the social isolation experienced during the pandemic, distinguishes this prize-winning work,” he adds.

The Erikson Institute’s focus on youth, linking access to the arts with mental health, is a noteworthy innovation that expands psychoanalytic thinking beyond traditional clinical and academic boundaries, particularly within the context of limited arts education in schools. Through its Erikson Scholar program, interdisciplinary scholars have been invited to Riggs for three- to four-month research-based intellectual and clinical immersion residencies. Research in psychoanalytic approaches to understanding suicide and personality, and advocacy for access to care with national impact are additional contributions.

Academically, in the past 10 years, 26 Erikson Scholars-in-residence and two Senior Erikson Scholars have been sponsored through the Erikson Scholar program. Additionally, the Erikson Institute created an institutional archive for the organization’s 2019 Centennial which includes manuscript collections from Otto Will, Robert Holt, and Erik Erikson now available to scholars for research. The Erikson Institute integrates psychoanalytic training, research, applied psychoanalysis, group dynamics, community outreach, advocacy for policy change supporting access to care, seeking maximal impact on the field and in the community.

Presenting its psychoanalytic identity in both clinical and public domains, the Erikson Institute has impacted new audiences through novel approaches. More than 1,000 visitors learned about the Center’s history of hospital-based psychoanalytic treatment in the context of North American mental health through a public exhibition in 2019. The Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media further reaches new audiences by recognizing writers, filmmakers, and journalists for coverage of mental health topics, providing a public forum for prize recipients to discuss their work. And the Arts in Mind program and Creativity Seminars explore the connection between the arts and mental health, expanding reach beyond traditional clinical and academic boundaries.

“Our mission is to preserve a space for learning that is linked to historical psychoanalysis while joining contemporary scholarship and advances in the field to make a difference in the world beyond the small number of patients we treat,” says Jane G. Tillman, PhD., accepting the Award on behalf of the nonprofit. “We strive to make psychoanalytic concepts accessible, relevant, interesting, and applicable to a wide range of problems and settings, and by winning The Sigourney Award-2021, our portfolio of psychoanalytic education, research, and advocacy is strengthened, and gains increased public awareness,” she adds.

This winning work for The Sigourney Award-2021 adds to a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with the independent prize. This year, work by Argentinian Dr. Jorge Claudio Ulnik and Maryland-based physician-psychoanalysts Dr. David Scharff and Dr. Jill Savege Scharff was also rewarded.

Look for this year’s award-winning work introduced through individual videos on The Sigourney Award website in early 2022. Applications for The Sigourney Award-2022 will be accepted in March 2022 for work completed between 2011 and 2021. The Sigourney Award includes a substantial cash prize.

Download Full Press Release

David Scharff And Jill Savege Scharff Wins The Sigourney Award-2021

David Scharff And Jill Savege Scharff’s Work In International Psychoanalytic Tele-Analysis And Training Wins The Sigourney Award-2021 

Seattle, WA — Nov. 18, 2021 – The Sigourney Award annually rewards outstanding work that advances psychoanalytic thought and practice with international recognition and a substantial cash prize. This year submissions from five continents were evaluated by a distinguished panel of independent judges. Today, William A. Myerson, Ph.D., MBA, and psychoanalyst co-trustee of The Sigourney Trust, announces that the innovative international tele-analysis and training work by Drs. David Scharff and Jill Savege Scharff, physician-psychoanalysts, is one of three meriting The Sigourney Award-2021.

The Maryland-based partners’ work adapts psychoanalytic thinking and practice for those far from a psychoanalytic center and educates analysts on how to provide remote treatment. Embracing teaching at the heart of their work, the Scharffs’ remote teaching and treatment efforts were accomplished in large part through the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) they co-founded, and as Supervising Analysts at the International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training (IIPT at IPI) and Teaching Analysts at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.

“Modifying teaching and treatment delivery systems, and publishing our interpretation of projection of resistance, transference and countertransference onto technology, prepared reluctant analysts for teletherapy during COVID-19,” says Dr. David Scharff.

To accomplish this, the Scharffs developed an innovative, analytic training methodology and paved a non-traditional path to deliver analysis remotely. The new training methodology allowed the application of psychoanalytic approaches to family and couple psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, while their early adoption of technology expanded access to psychoanalytic psychotherapy in areas and countries previously beyond reach.

“The pioneering vision to expand psychoanalytic psychotherapy into geographic areas not previously reached by clinicians working psychoanalytically, and to work with psychoanalytically-oriented clinicians who were initially reluctant to accept teletherapy, supports the mission of the Award’s founder, Mary Sigourney. Her intent was to reward innovative advancement of psychoanalytic thought and practice,” says Barbara Sherland, The Sigourney Trust attorney co-trustee.

“The international dissemination of psychoanalysis’ value with family and couple psychotherapy further supports the work’s recognition,” notes Dr. Myerson.

Long before the pandemic forced psychoanalytic clinicians to endorse remote learning and service delivery, the Scharffs’ work employed videoconference technology in certificate programs that have reached psychoanalytically oriented trainees in the United States, China, Russia, and Latin America, with additional programming that enabled them to reach trainees and colleagues in such locations as Greece, Austria, South Africa, New Zealand, and Israel. Their books and articles have reached a worldwide audience through translations into Chinese, Russian, German, Korean, Japanese, French, Italian, and Spanish, while their contribution to the dissemination of free e-books in psychotherapy, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis expanded access to psychoanalytic literature for readers in 200 countries and territories.

“David and I have the broader community in mind, locally and internationally and continue to value individual analysis and training,” says Dr. Jill Savege Scharff. “Applying this to child, couple, and family therapy, especially in geographical areas such as China and Russia where there is reduced access to analysis and its applications, as well as to theatre, further defines our work,” she added.

This award-winning work joins a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with this independent prize. Work by Argentinian Dr. Jorge Claudio Ulnik and the Massachusetts-based nonprofit, Erikson Institute For Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center, is also being rewarded in 2021.

Watch for individual videos featuring The Sigourney Award-2021 award recipients’ work on The Sigourney Award website in early 2022. Applications for The Sigourney Award-2022 will be accepted beginning in March 2022 for work completed between 2011 and 2021. The Sigourney Award includes a substantial cash prize.

Download Full Press Release

Dr. Jorge Claudio Ulnik Wins The Sigourney Award-2021

Innovative Psychosomatic And Psychodermatology Work Exemplifies Mind-Body Relationship And Earns Argentinian Dr. Jorge Claudio Ulnik The Sigourney Award-2021

Seattle, WA — Nov. 18, 2021 – The Sigourney Award annually rewards achievements that advance psychoanalytic thought with international recognition and a substantial cash prize. This year’s distinguished panel of independent judges reviewed applications from five continents. Today, William A. Myerson, Ph.D., MBA, and co-trustee of The Sigourney Trust announces Dr. Jorge Claudio Ulnik’s work in psychosomatics and psychodermatology and the work of two others have won The Sigourney Award-2021.

“Our founder, Mary Sigourney, intended to recognize and promote outstanding work that advances psychoanalytic thought and its ability to better humankind worldwide. Dr. Ulnik’s work reinvigorating medical and clinical interest in psychosomatic psychoanalytics exemplifies Mary’s vision,” says William A. Myerson, Ph.D., MBA, the Trust’s psychoanalytic co-trustee.

The innovative psychosomatic and psychodermatologic work developed by Dr. Jorge Ulnik exemplifies the important work being done on the mind-body relationship from a psychoanalytic perspective. Dr. Ulnik is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and Associate Professor of Pathophysiology and Psychosomatic Diseases (School of Psychology), and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Mental Health (School of Medicine) at the Buenos Aires University in Argentina. His work represents an innovation that continues the work of Freud (“the skin is the erogenous zone par excellence”) and pioneers such as Enrique Pichón-Rivière, Max Schur, Didier Anzieu, Esther Bick, and others. At the psychosomatic dermatology center founded by Dr. Ulnik, dermatologists refer patients to psychoanalytic therapy, continuing and strengthening psychoanalytic perspectives into areas primarily thought of as medical. Dr. Ulnik's work has helped to revitalize psychosomatic research, theory, and practice in Latin America, Spain, and Russia.

These concepts are taught at the Buenos Aires University, and widespread in social networks, medical publications, and congresses, and are of interest to psychoanalysts working with infantile mental states, attachment disorders, and somatic disorders.

“We live in times of bubbles, shells and screens. All of them insufficient wrappings – a kind of second skin – as a defense against the social and affective distancing that has been imposed on us. On the contrary, the recognition of the Sigourney Award will enable us to break barriers and continue building bridges between psyche and soma that can be crossed by physicians and patients, thus achieving a closer, more humane and personalized medical practice and a greater well-being in patients. At the same time, it leads us to continue working and researching to restore psychoanalysis to the place that general practitioners and specialists need it to occupy together with them in the difficult task - and art - of healing,” says Dr. Ulnik.

His work also reached Europe, North America, Australia, South Korea, and Israel, revitalizing interest in research and promoting awareness of psychoanalysis’ importance in the treatment of somatic diseases. The work encouraged doctors and patients to work with psychoanalysts and advanced psychoanalytic understanding of emotional engagement expressed by the body and specially by the skin. Presentations of this work in many cities where psychoanalytic approaches are not integrated into medical practices have supported the importance of psychoanalysis in treating psychosomatic disorders, and helped doctors and general practitioners to understand the mind-body connection. His book, Skin In Psychoanalysis (2007), translated in four languages and published in five countries, further shares this work’s benefits.

Apart from clinical work, Dr. Ulnik’s work includes development of film debates, conducting a Spanish cycle of cinema and psychoanalysis in London celebrating the 100th anniversary of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. These activities directed to the general public were then replicated in medical circles, TV, and Internet, facilitating a better knowledge and understanding of psychoanalysis and promoting it as a method for the deep comprehension of the human mind and the mind-body relationship.

According to Dr. Ulnik, millions of patients worldwide suffer from psychosomatic disorders and meanwhile, the study of psychosomatics has faded in many analytical institutes. Consequently, young analysts may not value the important contribution that psychoanalytic psychosomatics has made in theory and practice of analysis. The intention of his work is to revive interest in this vital area. His work expands audiences, by not only helping patients with skin or other somatic diseases, but by understanding why an allergy arises after a traumatic event, a psoriasis after a separation, etc. It advances in the understanding of the body language of the early childhood, in the symbiotic bonds of disorganized attachment, in the massive identifications, in the role of the own image and that of the others in the human psyche. 

This award-winning work adds to a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with The Sigourney Award, an independent international prize. This year, work by the Massachusetts-based nonprofit, Erikson Institute For Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center, and Maryland-based physician-psychoanalysts, Dr. David Scharff and Dr. Jill Savege Scharff, was also deemed award-worthy.

“We are encouraged to receive and reward the diverse submissions which represent the expansion of reach and impactful role of psychoanalytic thought around the world,” says Barbara Sherland, J.D., attorney co-trustee of The Sigourney Trust.

This year’s winning work will be highlighted with individual videos on The Sigourney Award website in early 2022. Applications for The Sigourney Award-2022 will be accepted in March 2022 for work completed between 2011 and 2021. The Sigourney Award includes a substantial cash prize.

Download Full Press Release

Attending IPA’s 52nd Congress from July 21-August 1?

IPA is featuring outstanding work in psychoanalysis, including the work of more than a dozen recipients of The Sigourney Award. We’re delighted that The Sigourney Award winners’ work continues to be valued and recognized:

Rosemary Balsam, 2018

Harold P. Blum, 1990

Roosevelt Cassorla, 2017

Cláudio Eizirik, 2011

Glen Gabbard, 2000

Yolanda Gampel, 2005

Jay Greenberg, 2015

Siri Gullestad, 2019

Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber, 2016

Julio Moreno, 2017

Warren Poland, 2009

Réne Rousillon, 2016

Mark Solms, 2011

Visit https://bit.ly/3iy9sZG for a complete details.

Pink Freud? Tune in!

Indulge me with your listening, asks Dr. Patricia Gherovici, in her recent podcast appearance with Psychoanaliterature. The Sigourney Award-2020 winner takes the audience through her work on transgender psychoanalysis, tracing its roots to the Argentinian Lacanian tradition and to “pink Freud.” 

Tune in: https://psychoanaliterature.pinecast.co/episode/99146b34/pink-freud

Deadline Extended!

Our application deadline has been extended.  The Sigourney Award-2021 applications are now due by Saturday, July 31st. Winners announced in November. Does your work qualify for this prestigious, international award and substantial cash prize honoring psychoanalytic achievement worldwide?

https://www.sigourneyaward.org/apply