Autonomic Countertransference: The Psychopathic Mind and the Institution

M. Inst Psychoanal., was appointed consultant psychiatrist at the Portman Clinic in 1980 after training at UCH and St Mary's Hospitals. His original interest was in suicidal acts based on a six-year study at St Mary's of people who had attempted suicide. This resulted some time later in a book with Donald Campbell, Working in the Dark (2017), a psychoanalytic study of suicidal acts. At the Portman Clinic his interest was in perpetrators of sexual abuse and their treatment. From 1987 till 1994 he worked at the Tavistock Clinic where he was the postgraduate dean and while there he set up the MedNet service for doctors in need of psychological help. Returning to the Portman in 1994 he took up the position as director and established a number of connections with medium and high security hospitals throughout the country. He also started the first group treatment service for paedophiles. In his retirement he continues a “grandparent” role providing weekly supervision to consultant staff in high and medium secure units.