El martes pasado, falleció de manera tranquila y a la edad de 94 años, Jean Sanville.
La Dra. Jean Sanville era miembro honorario de SPM y jugó un papel muy importante para el desarrollo de la misma y su inclusión dentro de espacios como APsA e IPA. Nos entristece profundamente haberla perdido, va con estas líneas, nuestra gratitud.
A continuación les compartimos las palabras expresadas por Mark D. Smaller, President-elect, American Psychoanalytic Association y a continuación un comentario de la propia Dra. Sanville.
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Jean Sanville 1918-2013
The fields of psychoanalysis and social work lost a great leader,
pioneer, innovator, clinician, and theoretician this past Monday.
Jean Sanville, Ph.D. died peacefully at her home in Los Angeles at the
age of 94.
Jean’s contributions to our fields were enormous. She helped found
both the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies,
and the Institute for Clinical Social Work in California, a doctoral
program in clinical social work. That institute was renamed the
Sanville Institute for Clinical Social Work in her honor in 2005.
She published many papers, and at least 5 books on psychoanalytic
treatment including: The Playground of Psychoanalytic Therapy;
Fostering Healing and Growth: A Psychoanalytic Social Work Approach
(with Joyce Edward); Therapies with Women in Transition (with Ellen
Ruderman).
I had met and knew Jean over the years. I remember this slight, tiny
woman, who was anything but slight and tiny in her convictions about
psychoanalytic ideas, treatment, organizations, and our two fields.
Whenever clinical social workers were having a conference during the
70.’s, 80’s, 90’s and until recently, Jean’s name always came up as a
potential speaker. Never would one walk away from her presentation
without feeling the impact of her ideas and words.
The last time I saw her was during a Presidential Symposium on Social
Work and Psychoanalysis that had been organized by Dick Fox when he
was APsaA president years ago. Jean represented so much of the
history, good and bad, between APsaA and other psychoanalytic
organizations. Her comments during that symposium on various papers
presented were invaluable.
She will be missed in our field. I have pasted below some of her
remarks from the Sanville Institute for Clinical Social Work website
that I think capture something of who she was. I especially like the
last line.
She will be sadly missed.
Mark D. Smaller, President-elect, American Psychoanalytic Association
From Jean Sanville (2005)
“Where to begin to tell you what it means to me to have the California
Institute for Clinical Social Work renamed THE SANVILLE INSTITUTE? And
that this change of name is happening because the Institute no longer
limits its doctoral program to clinical social workers but extends its
educational offerings to those holding master*s degrees in a closely
related profession*marriage and family therapy*professionals who work
in domains almost indistinguishable from those of social work. So,
there would seem to be every reason to assume some basic similarities
in what we do, although, for historical reasons, there may have
existed some differences in how we think. Historically, we social
workers may have drawn much more heavily upon psychoanalytic theory. I
am sad that in today*s world there would seem to be few schools of
social work still embracing the concepts of Freud and his creative
followers. I think*or hope*that my own alma mater, Smith College
School of Social Work is an exception. We might predict that in
California both of these helping professions could be enriched by
their ‘intermarriage……’*