Rosemary Gordon (1918
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
– 17 January 2012,
Menerbes,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
) was a naturalised British academic, clinical psychologist and leading
analytical psychologist and writer. She was a fellow of the
Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...
and of the
British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom.
History
It was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London (UCL) as ''The Psychological Society'', the org ...
and an honorary fellow of the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies at the
University of Kent
The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...
.
After schooling in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, Gordon came to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
where she took a degree in psychology and later gained a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
at 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 ...
.
She undertook anthropological research into family constellations at the
Sorbonne in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. On returning to England her work in
clinical psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...
centred on
projective test
In psychology, a projective test is a personality test designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts projected by the person into the test. This is sometimes contrasted with a ...
ing.
She became interested in the possibilities of
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
and undertook an analysis with the
Kleinian Hanna Segal
Hanna Segal (born Hanna Poznańska; 20 August 1918 – 5 July 2011) was a British psychoanalyst of Polish descent and a follower of Melanie Klein. She was president of the British Psychoanalytical Society, vice-president of the International P ...
.
However she found its premises on instinctual drives too limiting and turned to analytical psychology instead.
She became a member of the London
Society of Analytical Psychology
The Society of Analytical Psychology, known also as the SAP, incorporated in London, England, in 1945 is the oldest training organisation for Jungian analysts in the United Kingdom. Its first Honorary President in 1946 was Carl Jung. The societ ...
in 1957 of which she was later to become the chair.
She was co-editor with
Michael Fordham
Michael Scott Montague Fordham (4 August 1905 – 14 April 1995) was an English child psychiatrist and Jungian analyst. He was a co-editor of the English translation of C.G. Jung's '' Collected Works''. His clinical and theoretical collabora ...
and Kenneth Lambert of a series of clinical textbooks published by the Society of Analytical Psychology and later the editor of the ''Journal of Analytical Psychology'' (1986-1994). She did not abandon entirely her interest in the
British Independent group, in particular the work of
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 ...
and
Donald Winnicott
Donald Woods Winnicott (7 April 1896 – 25 January 1971) was an English paediatrician and psychoanalyst who was especially influential in the field of object relations theory and developmental psychology. He was a leading member of the Brit ...
. With her colleague
Judith Hubback she set up the "Freud-Jung Group" which met for years to exchange ideas between members 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 ...
and the Society of Analytical Psychology.
Aside from her many articles, she wrote two significant volumes, ''Dying and Creating, a Search for Meaning'' (1978) in which she explored the symbolic process and the variations she found in the conceptualisations of
C. G. Jung and
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
.
Her last book was ''Bridges, Metaphor for Psychic Processes'' (1993), which gathered together the writings of a professional lifetime.
She was an internationally esteemed clinician, supervisor and lecturer.
In 1950 Rosemary Gordon married an intelligence officer and future
BBC producer,
Peter Montagnon, and was then known as Rosemary Gordon‐Montagnon.
They spent their retirement in rural
Southern France
Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...
where she predeceased him in 2012.
Bibliography
* ''Dying and Creating, a Search for Meaning''. London: Society of Analytical Psychology. 1978.
* ''Bridges, Metaphor for Psychic Processes'' London:
Taylor and Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 Research and Dovepress. It is a division of ...
. 1993.
* ''A Very Private World', The Function and Nature of Imagery''. London and New York: Academic Press Ltd, 1972 /1
ellcome Library Archives
* ''Student Unrest II Students and the New Ethic'' ts, n.
Wellcome Library Archives
External links
* Winborn, Mark.
Transference as a Fulcrum of Analysis', 9 April 2012
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Rosemary
1918 births
2012 deaths
Fellows of the British Psychological Society
British psychoanalysts
Jungian psychologists
British psychologists
British women psychologists
Academics of the University of London
Alumni of the University of London
British women writers
British social anthropologists
British women anthropologists
Symbolic anthropologists
British women scientists
British women academics
German emigrants to the United Kingdom