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1931-2009
Dr. Elmor Smit, psychoanalyst, esteemed colleague, and founding director of the Vancouver Institute of Psychoanalysis, died on 17 January 2009 in hospital after a long struggle with heart failure. He is survived by his wife, his three children, and a grandchild.
Elmor was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1931. Already as a child he showed keen interest in his father's medical practice. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Wikwakebsrand in Johannesburg and did his training in psychiatry and neurology at the affiliated university hospitals. The emphasis then was on neuro-anatomy, including brain dissection, neurophysiology, and biochemistry. Electric shock and drug therapy were in wide use with some talk therapy. He completed his training in 1962. While still in what he considered to be sound training in organic psychiatry he entered psychoanalytic treatment trice weekly in 1959. The following year he became a fellow of the Faculty of Psychiatry of the College of Physicians of South Africa.
Realizing that his training thus far was slanted towards organic psychiatry, Elmor came to believe that psychoanalytic training was essential. After his analyst returned to the United Kingdom, Elmor and his young family moved to London, England, in 1964. He secured a position in the Tavistock Clinic and enjoyed intensive training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and dynamic psychiatry for 3 years. At the same time, he