YAM Notes: March/April 2022
By Stephen W. Buck, for the Communications Team. YAM@Yale62.org
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David Scharff and his wife, Jill Savege Scharff, have been awarded the 2021 Mary Sigourney Award in Psychoanalysis. This is the highest honor in the psychoanalytic world and was given to them in recognition of their efforts over the duration of their careers to spread analysis worldwide, both to clinicians practicing formal psychoanalysis, and to the much larger group of analytic psychotherapists. They have written more than 40 books and 150 articles on most aspects of psychoanalytic practice, including the application of analysis to couples and families, the elucidation of analytic theories and theorists, and the application of analytic thinking to theater (with inspiration from Yale’s theater prof, Murray Biggs). In 1994, they founded the International Psychotherapy Institute, employing innovative training principles as well as technologies, serving students in the US, Central America, Europe, Russia, and China. They have organized more than 100 conferences globally and taught in more than 30 countries. Their many recent publications explore the use of distance technology to bring training to underserved areas, and they now have three training programs in China and two in Russia. Jill’s most recent books focus on teletherapy, and she has founded child analytic therapy trainings in the US and abroad, most recently in China. David’s most recent book is Marriage and Family in Modern China: A Psychoanalytic Exploration. They have also been active in helping to guide the American Psychoanalytic Association’s efforts to support clinicians during the COVID pandemic, and to adapt psychoanalytic practice to the use of distance technology. Overall, their work has constructed a global teaching and learning matrix for psychoanalytic thought and practice based on psychodynamic principles.
Bill Reilly reports, “On March 6, 2020, we moved to our weekend home to wait out COVID. Our family was hit hard by the virus. Libbie lost her younger brother, and I lost my older sister. And we both caught and recovered from it, with no apparent enduring effects. Two weeks ago, the New York Times journalist who covered me during my EPA years interviewed me for my obituary. Be prepared, they say!”
Y62 Communications Team member Bill Weber recently corresponded with Jack Merrick and reviewed the good old times in Calhoun. They discovered that each of them had been married in the Harkness Tower chapel, Bill in 1962 and Jack in 1969. Bill also had a lively phone conversation with Jim Stein and discussed Jim’s exciting adventures both at Yale and after graduation. Their conversation is on Yale62.org as an interview; we hope you enjoy it.
Please try to join us at our ‘First Thursday’ coffee hour class get-togethers, via the Zoom platform. Watch your email for the invitation, which is sent out each month on the Monday preceding the event, and again on the Wednesday prior to it. We welcome you to the lively conversations full of camaraderie and entertaining discussion! If you have questions about this monthly event, please email us at YAM@yale62.org.
Sadly, we report that on our website, we have newly posted obituaries for the following classmates: Kevin Buckley, Ruly Carpenter, Alex Garvin, and Jim Pearson.