Neville Symington, MD, 2013 (1937-2019)
Dr. Neville Symington’s innovative work was distinguished by his independent thinking, which challenged established schools of thought on narcissism and the origins of mental illness. He made a practice of thinking his own thoughts, positioning himself as something of a maverick within the field — taking unpopular positions and arguing them with both skill and tact. A renaissance man and true scholar, Symington was broadly learned across many subjects and a superb clinician.
Although influenced by the Kleinians and Bion, he approached all writers with his own form of critical thinking. Freedom of thought was central to Symington's views — a concept many would regard as the ultimate goal of psychoanalysis. In his writing, he explored Bion's notion of freedom as emanating from a stratum far deeper than the realm of conscious choice, suggesting we may in fact be prisoners to that deeper stratum. As Symington put it: "When someone cannot think his own thoughts, he is not free."
A prolific writer, Symington authored 14 books on a range of subjects, including narcissism, psychoanalysis and religion, madness, and becoming a person through psychoanalysis.