W. Clifford M. Scott (1903-1997)

Clifford Scott, whose death in January 1997 brought to an end almost seven decades of dedication to psychoanalysis, was a pioneer in many senses. He was one of the first to use psychoanalysis to treat schizophrenic and manic-depressive patients; he was probably the most intensely interested analyst in the psychodynamics of sleeping and dreaming and areas between (Scott 1975); he had a remarkable empathy for, and contact with, the infantile mind, and was dedicated to the development of child analysis in Canada, long before child analysis was generally accepted in analytic trainings in North America. He thought there was no better way to gain contact with our own inner world than through the analysis of a young child.

Clifford Scott was born in 1903 in a small Ontario town. His studies of medicine at the University of Toronto were followed by psychiatric training in New York, Baltimore and Boston. In the latter centres he met many analysts and became interested in pursuing an analytic career. He was encouraged to come to England and did so in 1931. He started adult and child psychoanalytic training in the British PsychoAnalytical Society and was Melanie Klein's first candidate to quality as a psychoanalyst in 1933. He worked at the Maudsley and the Cassel Hospitals until the start of the Second World War when he served in various centres as an Emergency Medical Service psychiatrist. After the war he continued his hospital work and started private practice in London.

He held many important posts in the British Psycho-Analytical Society and was elected President in 1953. His term of office was cut short when he decided to accept a post as Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry of McGill University in 1954. He then became one of the founding members of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society and was influential in the development of a training organization for psychoanalysis in Canada. Over the years, thanks to a large extent to Clifford Scott's efforts, training