Mary Nina Searl (13 October 1883 – 26 February 1955) was an English psychologist and one of the earliest British child psychoanalysts, who came by way of the Brunswick Square Clinic to become a member of the

British Psychoanalytical Society The British Psychoanalytical Society was founded by Ernest Jones as the London Psychoanalytical Society on 30 October 1913. It is one of several organisations in Britain training psychoanalysts. The society has been home to a number of psych ...

. She was analysed by

Hanns Sachs Hanns Sachs (; 10 January 1881, in Vienna – 10 January 1947, in Boston) was one of the earliest psychoanalysts, and a close personal friend of Sigmund Freud. He became a member of Freud's Secret Committee of six in 1912, Freud describing him as ...

. Among her supervisees was

John Bowlby Edward John Mostyn Bowlby (; 26 February 1907 – 2 September 1990) was a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory. A ''Review of General Psychology'' ...

while she also helped train D. W. Winnicott and

Susan Isaacs Susan Isaacs (born December 7, 1943) is an American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. She adapted her debut novel into the film '' Compromising Positions''. Early life, family and education She was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Helen Asher ...

Early life and education

Searl was born in Forest Gate,

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. She was educated at Sidcup High School before entering the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1901.

Theoretic contributions

During the twenties and thirties, Searl published a number of theoretical contributions, on subjects ranging from childhood stammering to

depersonalization Depersonalization is a dissociative phenomenon characterized by a subjective feeling of detachment from oneself, manifesting as a sense of disconnection from one's thoughts, emotions, sensations, or actions, and often accompanied by a feeling of ...

. She explored childhood phantasies of bodily destruction, as well as the repeated flight to reality where the individual seeks reassurance again and again that underlying fears are indeed imaginary, without ever reaching full reassurance. Perhaps her most significant contribution was however her article on technique of 1936, which has been described as a neglected classic, anticipating much later work on ego resistance in analysis. While previously Searl had been closely associated with the movement around

Melanie Klein Melanie Klein (; ; Reizes; 30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Kl ...

, the article aroused considerable hostility from Kleinians, in a way anticipating the later

Controversial discussions The controversial discussions were a protracted series of meetings of the British Psychoanalytical Society which took place between October 1942 and February 1944 between the Viennese school and the supporters of Melanie Klein. They led to a tripar ...

- hostility which ultimately resulted in Searl leaving the psychoanalytic movement. Searl's downplaying of the role of theory in the article - "The function of theory is to help the analyst's weakness on extra-analytical occasion and is of use to the patient only in this indirect fashion"Quoted in Bergmann, p. 313 - may have contributed to this hostility; though again it can be seen as anticipating later positions such as those held by

Joseph J. Sandler Joseph J. Sandler (10 January 1927, Cape Town – 6 October 1998, London) was a British psychoanalyst within the Anna Freud Grouping – now the Contemporary Freudians – of the British Psychoanalytical Society; and is perhaps best known for wh ...

Publications

* 'A Case of Stammering in a Child' ''

International Journal of Psychoanalysis ''The International Journal of Psychoanalysis'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of psychoanalysis. The idea of the journal was proposed by Ernest Jones in a letter to Sigmund Freud dated 7 December 1918. The journa ...

'', VIII, 1927 * 'The Flight to Reality' ''IJP'', X, 1929 * 'Danger Situations of the Immature Ego' ''IJP'', X, 1929 * 'A Note on Depersonalization' ''IJP'', XIII, 1932 * 'The Psychology of Screaming' ''IJP'', XIV, 1933 * 'Freudian Light on Children's Behaviour' ''The New Era'', XVII 1936 * 'Some Queries on Principles of Technique', ''IJP'', XVII 193

References

External links

S. Raitt, 'Early British Psychoanalysis and the Medico-Psychological Clinic'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Searl, Nina 1883 births 1955 deaths Alumni of the University of London Analysands of Hanns Sachs People from Chippenham

Early life and education

Theoretic contributions

Publications

References

Further reading

External links