Giuseppe Civitarese’s Work Wins The Sigourney Award-2022
Dr. Civitarese’s innovative efforts primarily focused on such themes as elaboration of Bion’s thought, the development of post-Bionian models and analytic field theory earns The Sigourney Award-2022.
Post-Bionian Model and Analytic Field Theory Work Earns Italian Dr. Giuseppe Civitarese The Sigourney Award-2022
Seattle, WA — Nov. 16, 2022 – The Sigourney Award annually rewards achievements that advance psychoanalytic thought with international recognition and a substantial cash prize. This year, a panel of distinguished judges evaluated work from an exceptional pool of applicants from around the world. Today, Robin A. Deutsch, PhD and Analyst Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust, is introducing Dr. Giuseppe Civitarese’s work developing post-Bionian models and analytic field theory and the work of four others that has won The Sigourney Award-2022.
Mary Sigourney founded The Sigourney Trust in 1989 to recognize and promote exceptional work that advances psychoanalytic principles and their ability to better humankind.
“Our judges conscientiously ensured that the work rewarded met Ms. Sigourney’s intentions of furthering and expanding outstanding psychoanalytic thought globally. Dr. Civitarese’s work developing post-Bionian models and analytic field theory and expanding the application to meet contemporary society’s mental health needs, embodies her vision,” says Dr. Deutsch.
Civitarese’s innovative efforts have primarily focused on such themes as elaboration of Bion’s thought, the development of post-Bionian models and analytic field theory. His work extended Bion’s reformulation of the concept of “hallucinosis” in a way that deciphers and transforms this difficult Bionian concept into comprehensible psychoanalytic technique. Civitarese extends these ideas to show how human subjectivity is also intersubjective, essentially positing that mental life is rooted in co-being with others. His work has empowered the analyst to be receptive to the unconscious no longer only in terms of the I/you split but of the intersubjective we.
Part of Civitarese’s contribution is his ability to describe this shift conceptually and to evoke the experience of analytic transformation for readers in how he writes. His work emphasizes how the analytic encounter, previously focused on individual subjectivity, is enlivened and increasingly effective if it is viewed as a group process. Civitarese’s scientific, institutional, and cultural endeavors have contributed to the ongoing renovation of psychoanalysis to keep it alive and able to meet the real challenges of our times, as one of the finest instruments available to treat mental suffering and understand the mind.
“My work, although sometimes dealing with abstract and difficult concepts, is always grounded in a concern to improve the treatment of mental suffering, and I’m very proud my efforts have earned The Sigourney Award’s recognition,” says Civitarese. “Besides, psychoanalysis is a scientific discipline that can have an important impact on humanity as it makes us understand the fine social structure of subjectivity. This awareness also makes psychoanalysis (as a critical theory) a knowledge tool that can facilitate processes of mutual recognition and conflict resolution between different cultures."
Civitarese is a sought-after international lecturer and a renowned author, and his work inspires fruitful dialogue with other disciplines (philosophy, literature, narratology, neurosciences, psychiatry, aesthetics, etc.) and with classical psychoanalysis, as evidenced by a series of works dedicated to Freud's thought. Examples include his essays on the Dora case, “Formulations on the principles of mental functioning”, Nachträglichkeit, masochism and the Fort-Da game in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Civilization and its Discontent, etc.). Civitarese’s contributions have helped position Italian psychoanalysis on the international stage through his work as editor for the Rivista Di Psicoanalisi and and The Italian Psychoanalytic Annual, both Journals of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society, over the four-year period 2013-2017. Additionally, along with several young colleagues he founded a non-profit cultural association, ilcampoanalitico (theanalyticfield) to expand development of psychoanalytic thinking with a focus on analytical field theory.
Beyond theoretical and clinical essays, Civitarese has written three books on contemporary art and literature, including Losing your Head: Abjection, Aesthetic Conflict, and Psychoanalytic Criticism (2015). Italian language titles include L’ora della nascita: Psicoanalisi del sublime e arte contemporanea [The Hour of Birth: Psychoanalysis of the Sublime and Contemporary Art] , which won the Gradiva-Lavarone prize for the best psychoanalytic book of the year in Italy (2020); and (with others), Psiche nasce nella stanza di amore. Nuove letture per la camera di Amore e Psiche di Palazzo Te [Psyche is Born in the Room of Love. New Readings for the Room of Cupid and Psyche at Palazzo Te], (2018), and “Blackness of Red: Anish Kapoor and the Sublimation of the Flesh”, a chapter in Anish Kapoor's recent Venice exhibition catalog.
“I have tried to re-found psychoanalytic criticism of art (cinema, painting, literature), basing it no longer on the rigid 'top-down' application of psychoanalytic categories but by establishing a dialogue marked by reciprocity: not only what psychoanalysis can say about art but also what art can say about psychoanalysis,” says Civitarese.
Barbara Sherland, J.D., Attorney Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust, says, “We are proud to have received such forward-thinking and influential applications, and congratulate Dr. Civitarese in the advancements his own work has provided in extending the reach of psychoanalysis and helping improve mental health treatments available throughout the world.”
His award-winning work is added to a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with The Sigourney Award. This year, he shares this honor with Dr. Jack Drescher (New York, USA), Dr. Dorothy Holmes (South Carolina, USA), Professor Alessandra Lemma (London, UK), and Dr. Edward Tronick (Massachusetts, USA), whose work also met the demanding Award criteria.
Jack Drescher’s Work Wins The Sigourney Award-2022
Dr. Drescher’s pioneering work in the areas of gender and sexuality which has brought innovation to psychoanalytic treatment and theory earns The Sigourney Award-2022.
Pioneering Work on Gender and Sexuality Earns American Jack Drescher, MD, The Sigourney Award-2022
Seattle, WA — Nov. 16, 2022 – Annually, The Sigourney Award bestows international recognition and a substantial cash prize for outstanding work that advances psychoanalytic thought worldwide. A prestigious panel of judges carefully reviewed applicants from across the globe and today, Robin A. Deutsch, PhD and Analyst Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust announces the winners of The Sigourney Award-2022. Dr. Jack Drescher’s landmark work in the areas of gender and sexuality receives the prize along with four additional, extraordinary recipients.
“Mary Sigourney established The Sigourney Award to recognize and promote exceptional work that advances psychoanalytic principles and their ability to better humankind. Dr. Drescher’s impactful work in the areas of gender and sexuality fulfills her vision by helping improve lives of individuals other than patients, and expertly translating the complexity of psychoanalytic thinking into jargon-free language accessible to a wider public audience,” says Dr. Deutsch.
Drescher’s pioneering work has brought innovation to psychoanalytic treatment and theory—specifically, major, critical re-thinking based on solid scientific evidence and what is actually known rather than outdated assumptions about gender and sexuality. His work has also demonstrated how cultural biases about human sexuality and gender are embedded in analytic theories. During the past decade Drescher has focused psychoanalytic theory and attention on harms done by efforts to change a person’s homosexual orientation and by de-pathologizing sexual orientation and gender identity.
“I’ve long devoted my professional efforts to help psychoanalysis (re)engage with gender and sexuality in the 21st century. I wish to thank the Mary Sigourney Trust judges for recognizing my work’s psychoanalytic perspective in acknowledging complexity, history, multi-determined motivations, contradiction and the role of anxiety in shaping beliefs about gender and sexuality,” says Drescher.
A Training and Supervising Analyst at the William Alanson White Institute, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Senior Psychoanalytic Consultant for Sexuality and Gender at Columbia University’s Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, and an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, Drescher’s scholarly work and media communications to the general public have had an international impact on changing both psychoanalytic attitudes and public policies towards gender and sexuality. A notable example is his contribution to the recent revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) that helped end decades of diagnostic pathologizing of sexual and gender identities.
His work has managed to shift psychoanalytic thinking about LGBTQ+ people and brought psychoanalytic sensibilities into conversations outside of psychoanalysis fostering a sea change in psychoanalytic organizations’ perspectives on gender and sexuality. His work has also contributed to actions in 20 U.S. states and nearly 30 countries to ban conversion therapies for LGBTQ+ people, and notably, his publications were cited by India’s supreme court in its decision to abolish laws criminalizing homosexuality.
Drescher served on the Honorary Scientific Committee of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2)
and contributed to the chapters on gender and sexuality. In recent years, he has reached across the globe on these subjects through speaking engagements in Brazil, Chile, China, France, Great Britain, India, Israel, Iran, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, and Portugal. His scholarly works further teachings with translations into Italian, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Finnish, and German.
He explains that Freud, and much of early psychoanalytic theorizing, conflated the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity. Much of that history involved claims of finding the “causes”— and sometimes purported cures—of homosexuality. Yet, the contemporary scientific position is that the “causes” of any sexual orientation or gender identity are unknown. Drawing upon that perspective, his work demonstrates how cultural biases about human sexuality and gender are embedded in analytic theories. He challenges clinicians to rethink the limits of what is possible to discover in analytic treatments. For example, analysts and analysands are not discovering what “causes” homosexuality or “gender identities” in their practices. They are instead co-constructing narratives based on the meanings of those concepts to the two participants.
“We have been astounded by the contributions made by our 2022 recipients. Their purposeful and impactful advancements for the field of psychoanalysis propel its positive impact and importance across the world and we celebrate their accomplishments and hope this recognition inspires others to exceed expectations to better the human condition,” says Barbara Sherland, J.D., Attorney Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust.
Drescher’s award-winning work is added to a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with The Sigourney Award. This year, he shares this honor with Dr. Giuseppe Civitarese (Pavia, Italy), Dr. Dorothy Holmes (South Carolina, USA), Professor Alessandra Lemma (London, UK), and Dr. Edward Tronick (Massachusetts, USA), whose work also met the demanding Award criteria.
Dorothy E. Holmes’ Work Wins The Sigourney Award-2022
Dr. Holmes’ groundbreaking work examined race within psychoanalysis, observing that race is an essential lens for psychoanalytic understanding earns The Sigourney Award-2022.
Groundbreaking Work Examining Race within Psychoanalysis Earns American Dorothy E. Holmes, PhD, The Sigourney Award-2022
Seattle, WA — Nov. 16, 2022 – The Sigourney Award is presented annually to reward work that advances psychoanalytic thought and principles worldwide, meriting international recognition and a substantial cash prize. Robin A. Deutsch, PhD and Analyst Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust, is announcing today that Dr. Dorothy E. Holmes’ landmark work examining race within psychoanalysis, and the work of four others, has earned The Sigourney Award-2022.
“By examining systemic racism and its role in psychoanalysis, Dr. Holmes is inspiring open discussion of discriminatory practices that impact racial equity in psychoanalytic treatment and training,” explains Dr. Deutsch. “Mary Sigourney’s intentions were to encourage and recognize significant contributions in advancing psychoanalytic principles and their ability to better humankind and we’re proud to honor Dr. Holmes’ groundbreaking work which meets these distinctive criteria.”
Dr. Holmes’ work observes that race is an essential lens for psychoanalytic understanding because racism has endemic intrapsychic and cultural effects, including traumatic ones. These effects are accessible in treatment wherein psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic institutions resist knowing and theorizing the deleterious impacts of racism and their resistances. Her work catalyzed open discussion of discriminatory practices in society and in psychoanalysis, and their harm about which psychoanalysis has traditionally been silent, both clinically and institutionally. Rather than seeing race as an obstacle to deeper work, Holmes posited that when race is acknowledged and addressed, it may lead to more just practices in therapy and beyond. Her efforts demonstrated that personal and organizational wellness cannot be achieved unless all aspects of one's identity are claimed, resolved, and embraced, including though not limited to racial identity. Applying clinical and organizational uses of psychoanalytic thinking holistically, Holmes’ methodology has helped address systemic racism within psychoanalytic organizations and promote racial equity. She even ventured into psychoanalytic institutional protests designed to maintain racism as a "sleeping dog" employing liberatory psychoanalytic principles and tools to understand racism clinically and institutionally.
“My body of work demonstrates that psychoanalysis has the conceptual and clinical tools to
understand systemic racism and how it operates intra-psychically and behaviorally, in the individual
and in psychoanalytic institutional practices,” says Dr. Holmes. “My work also demonstrates that
this understanding is necessary to promote robust wellness in patients, white and of color, and in psychoanalytic organizations for them to promote racial equity by reducing attachment to white privilege.”
Reaching beyond the traditional patient/analyst setting, Dr. Holmes applies her approach in her social justice commitment. Her recent psychoanalytic equity work theorizes the intrapsychic and institutional elements of resistance to recognizing the central role of race in society in general and in psychoanalysis (e.g., use of primal defenses against recognition of racial hatred, clinging to white privilege).
Her thought leadership in challenging institutional psychoanalysis and encouraging the field to engage in self-examination and active change led the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) to create The Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in the American Psychoanalytic Association, for which Holmes serves as its distinguished chair. The commission now investigates “systemic racism and its underlying determinants embedded within APsaA and independent psychoanalytic institutions,” and offers “remedies for all aspects of identified racism” in psychoanalytic institutions across different
governing bodies.
She is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas and IPTAR, Training and Supervising Analyst, Emerita, the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis, Professor and PsyD Program Director Emerita, George Washington University, and a member, emerita, of Black Psychoanalysts Speak. Holmes articulates the necessity for psychoanalysis to understand racist hatred that is carried widely in the culture and individually, and she shows that persistent racial unknowing is practiced in psychoanalytic institutions through silence, political intimidation, and disappearing in the face of repeated painful racial enactments.
“Our independent panel of distinguished judges have the difficult task of identifying the most outstanding contributions among our international applicants, and we honor their professional guidance as we strive to fulfill Mary Sigourney’s intent to reward work that significantly advanced psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic principles worldwide. We welcome The Sigourney Award-2022 recipients to our esteemed roster and look forward to recognizing novel advancements of others in the coming years,” says Barbara Sherland, J.D., Attorney Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust.
Dr. Holmes’ award-winning work is added to a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with The Sigourney Award. This year,
she shares this honor with Dr. Giuseppe Civitarese (Pavia, Italy), Dr. Jack Drescher (New York, USA), Professor Alessandra Lemma (London, UK), and Dr. Edward Tronick (Massachusetts, USA), whose work also met the demanding Award criteria.
Alessandra Lemma’s Work Wins The Sigourney Award-2022
Professor Lemma’s inventive theoretical and clinical contributions address issues such as body modifications, transgender identities, and technology impacts – with an emphasis on youth, earns The Sigourney Award-2022.
Inventive Theoretical and Clinical Work Addressing Contemporary Issues Earns UK Professor Alessandra Lemma The Sigourney Award-2022
Seattle, WA — Nov. 16, 2022 – The Sigourney Award, founded in 1989, annually rewards outstanding work that represents a significant contribution to psychoanalysis and brings innovation to the field of psychoanalytic treatment or theory. Recipients receive international recognition and a substantial cash prize and this year, a panel of distinguished judges evaluated work from extraordinary international applicants. Today, Robin A. Deutsch, PhD and Analyst Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust announces UK Professor Alessandra Lemma’s inventive theoretical and clinical psychoanalytic contributions has earned The Sigourney Award-2022 along with four additional recipients’ work.
“Professor Lemma’s work embodies Mary Sigourney’s intention to promote and expand the benefits of psychoanalytic thinking worldwide. Our notable panel of judges deemed her interdisciplinary approach addressing contemporary social and psychological challenges, especially those directed at youth and those suffering from depression, deserved the prize for her superior efforts and professional results,” says Dr. Deutsch.
Professor Lemma’s inventive theoretical and clinical contributions address contemporary issues such as body modifications, transgender identities, and the impact of new digital technologies on the mind and body, especially applied in youth mental health. Lemma has disseminated her analytic knowledge world-wide, thus promoting psychoanalysis outside the confines of institutes and providing fresh psychoanalytic approaches to treatment in the UK and Europe. Addressing a deep understanding of how modern identity finds its way through our physical self, her work explains widespread social phenomena in young people (e.g., tattooing and cosmetic surgery), broadening the scope of thinking about what drives people to modify their bodies. By translating clinical insights into everyday discourse, Lemma brings the ‘person in the street’ along and introduces them to the unconscious fantasies of modern teens.
In addition, her approach to depression, Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT), builds on her work to define the essence of a psychoanalytic approach to brief psychotherapy, providing a template for the only psychodynamic approach recognized by the UK National Health Service. DIT is remarkable for being the sole publicly funded brief psychodynamic approach delivered within the British socialized health system and is now available free to patients. DIT has contributed to safeguarding the provision of a psychoanalytic intervention in the UK publicly funded health service where these interventions are under threat and the model is now offered in the Americas, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.
“My work has been driven by a commitment to taking psychoanalysis off the couch and into the wider world creating opportunities for interdisciplinary dialogue, for understanding pressing contemporary social questions and clinical challenges, and for improving access to psychoanalytic interventions through the development and evaluation of a new brief therapy model that has enabled more clinicians to be trained to reach more patients in more countries around the world,” says Lemma.
Lemma, a Doctor of Clinical Psychology, tackles controversial issues in mental health, particularly focused on youth, that concern opinion leaders, young people, and the broader public. She has actively promoted interdisciplinary dialogue through her integration of psychoanalysis and ethics to support best clinical practice and balanced debate and through her editorial work for ten years as General Editor of the New Library of Psychoanalysis book series (Routledge), which encouraged psychoanalytic theoretical pluralism and the application of psychoanalysis beyond the consulting room. As an author, her Introduction to the Practice of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (2015) brings psychoanalysis to psychotherapists around the world. Her writings offer a diverse range of application without losing analytic depth as in her book, The Digital Age on the Couch (2017), that spans exploring the impact of new technologies on sexual developmental in adolescence to their impact on how clinicians practice. Her theoretical contributions have focused primarily on the experience of embodiment. Highly cited in the past decade, her academic work including articles and books is translated into 10 languages. She is a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytic Society, Visiting Professor, Psychoanalysis Unit, University College London, and a Consultant at the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families.
Her leadership as the Independent Chair of the ‘Scope of Practice and Education’ project which oversaw the development of an evidence-based framework to inform the training requirements, competences, and ethical practice standards for 60,000 psychotherapists/counselors across the UK, helped improve quality standards of psychotherapy training.
“Our mission is to answer the intentions set forth by Mary Sigourney when she founded this Trust. Professor Lemma’s contributions are germane to contemporary problems, and have created opportunities for interdisciplinary dialogue, which enhances the perceived relevance of psychoanalysis to everyday life. We applaud her work and encourage others to share their own advancements through applications for The Sigourney Award-2023,” says Barbara Sherland, J.D., Attorney Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust.
Lemma’s award-winning work is added to a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with The Sigourney Award. This year, she shares this honor with Dr. Giuseppe Civitarese (Pavia, Italy), Dr. Jack Drescher (New York, USA), Dr. Dorothy Holmes (South Carolina, USA), and Dr. Edward Tronick (Massachusetts, USA), whose work also met the demanding Award criteria.
Edward Tronick’s Work Wins The Sigourney Award-2022
Dr. Tronick’s seminal work focused on the concept of repair of relational disruptions as a major change process in psychological development and the healing of psychological illness earns The Sigourney Award-2022.
Seminal Work on Repairing Relational Disruptions Earns Edward Tronick, PhD, The Sigourney Award-2022
Seattle, WA — Nov. 16, 2022 – The Sigourney Award annually rewards achievements within the recent decade that advance psychoanalytic thought and principles and their ability to benefit humankind. This year, a panel of distinguished judges evaluated work from an extraordinary pool of international applicants seeking the prestigious Award and substantial cash prize. Robin A. Deutsch, PhD and Analyst Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust announced today that Dr. Edward Tronick’s seminal work on repairing relational disruptions has won The Sigourney Award-2022 along with four additional recipients.
“Dr. Tronick’s work in developmental psychoanalysis revises the psychoanalytic understanding of infancy and development to one involving disorganization and repair,” says Dr. Deutsch. “His pivotal work and that of others honored this year are important illustrations of the psychoanalytic contributions our organization’s founder, Mary Sigourney, sought to encourage and reward,” she adds.
Dr. Tronick’s seminal work focused on the concept of repair of relational disruptions as a major change process in psychological development and the healing of psychological illness. It elaborates on his original model of mutual regulation. A Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, and Chief Faculty Early Relational Health Fellowship, Tronick published more than 80 papers representing cutting-edge contributions to understanding biological and scientific advances in physiology, genetics, and epigenetics from 2011-2021.
Building upon his Still-Face Paradigm work, he developed a new experimental paradigm for evaluating the effects on the infant of mildly stressing the mother. Tronick’s contributions offer psychoanalysts a scientific basis for the link between relational experience in the dyad and psychological health or illness in the individual. His work has generated the concept of the 'something more' in analysis as meanings made not conveyed by language or narrative. His work has reimagined both the infant and the analysand as more pro-active and co-creative than the passive model of both had suggested. The transference involves continuously operating implicit neurosomatic forms of meaning: the something more. The paradigm shifts our view of development and analysis to a discordant process of active agents engaged in finding shared meanings. A recent book co-authored with Claudia M. Gold, MD, The Power Of Discord: Why The Ups And Downs Of Relationships Are The Secret To Building Intimacy, Resilience, And Trust (Little Brown. 2020) raises the profile of psychoanalysis and the broader application of psychoanalysis.
“I am passionate about bringing a deeper understanding of psychoanalysis to benefit people and other fields of study. My Face-to- Face Still-Face paradigm has evolved and exemplifies that commitment, providing a critical tool for the study of human growth and development of dyadic systems that lasts,” says Tronick. “I appreciate receiving The Sigourney Award and the renowned recognition it offers for my work,” he adds.
Currently, Tronick is Head Faculty in an Early Relation Health Fellowship at UMass Chan Medical School and teaches up to 10 sessions on various developmental topics over two years, including topics of Repair and Buffer Models of Development, Cross Cultural Development, Attachment, Dyadic States of Consciousness Theory, Dyadic Therapy, ASD and Sensory Integration, Infant Development, and Newborn Assessment.
In the past decade, Tronick has presented to large audiences of professionals from more than 40 countries including ranging from The Australian Childhood Foundation Conference, “Childhood Trauma: Understanding the basis of change and recovery”; UMass Boston and NPR News’ Ideas Boston Keynote/Plenary Address, Early Childhood Development “Repair and Relationships”; Reach Grenada / St. George's University with “Meaning Making and Development”; to the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Eastern and Southern Norway where he presented “The bridge between attachment and trauma” and the ISC International 2018 Attachment and Trauma Congress presenting “Multilevel Meaning Making, Relational Regulation and Stress” in London.
“It is inspiring to learn about the momentous work being done to advance the benefits and expand the reach of psychoanalysis, and I believe our founder, Mary Sigourney, would whole-heartedly agree with the distinguished judges decisions to honor all of our 2022 awardees whom we induct into this revered community,” says Barbara Sherland, J.D., Attorney Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust. “We believe recognizing their efforts will encourage others to consider sharing their own work for consideration in our upcoming Sigourney Award applications,” she adds.
Dr. Tronick’s award-winning work is added to a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with The Sigourney Award. This year, he shares this honor with Dr. Giuseppe Civitarese (Pavia, Italy), Dr. Jack Drescher (New York, USA), Dr. Dorothy Holmes (South Carolina, USA), and Professor Alessandra Lemma (London, UK) whose work also met the demanding Award criteria.
#OffTheCouch Podcast featuring Dr. Rosemary Balsam
Tune in to learn Rosemary’s thoughts and hear her views on her personal journey and of the field of psychoanalysis.
Monday (10/10) marks World Mental Health Day, and given @IPA’s international reach, we felt it was appropriate to highlight an #OffTheCouch podcast featuring Dr. Rosemary Balsam. This Sigourney Award 2018 recipient speaks with host Dr. Harvey Schwartz in a discussion entitled “Femaleness, Fecundity and their Psychic Reach.”
"War In Ukraine, A Space To Share And Reflect in the Midst of An Ongoing War"
The Sigourney Award-2019 recipient, Partners Confronting Collective Atrocities (PCCA) with Director Mira Erlich-Gino hosts a timely, virtual event next month.
War In Ukraine, A Space To Share And Reflect in the Midst of An Ongoing War, is an online experiential event scheduled September 2-4 from 12:00-18:00 London Time.
Find information on PCCA’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PartnersinConfrontingCollectiveAtrocities/photos/a.1341959472614898/2775199425957555/ OR email PCCA at pccawue@gmail.com.
Mark Solms’ Work Featured in Podcast
2011 award recipient Mark Solms’ work featured in a podcast hosted by Dr. David Puder on Psychiatry & Psychotherapy.
Tune into this podcast as Mark Solms discusses consciousness and emotion as shared in his book, The Hidden Spring.
IPA Asia Pacific Conference 2023
Are you registered yet for the International Psychoanalytic Association Asia Pacific Conference? It will be held in Delhi, India, January 4-6, 2023.
The conference marks the culmination of the Indian Psychoanalytical Society’s centenary celebration. Registration is open.
Are You Registered Yet?
Will you be joining colleagues in Vienna, the birthplace of psychoanalysis, for the 35th European Psychoanalytical Federation Annual Conference: IDEALS?
The events run from July 15-17. Conference information and registration details are HERE
Call For Proposals
There is still time to submit a Proposal for the IPA 2023 Congress in 2023!
All proposals must be sent in online. Submit Proposals Here
Winners In The News!
Contributions of The Sigourney Award winners are often shared through many media outlets. This IPA Off The Couch Podcast features one of The Sigourney Award-2020 winning organizations, Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities (PCCA).
Mira Erlich-Ginor of PCCA discusses the origins of the organization and working with the current atrocities in Ukraine. Tune in:
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
Unsure whether your work is eligible to win The Sigourney Award-2022? We hope to dispel any misunderstandings about the prize that honors outstanding psychoanalytic work worldwide.
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
Jorge Ulnik, M.D., Ph.D., The Sigourney Award Recipient, 2021, will be presenting at the upcoming NYPSI 1057th Scientific Meeting.
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.
Busting Sigourney Award Myths
Unsure whether your work is eligible to win The Sigourney Award-2022? Read on to dispel some common misunderstandings about the prize that honors outstanding psychoanalytic work worldwide. Read more to discover.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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