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On 27 August, 2023, Sira Dermen, a long-serving staff member of the Portman Clinic in London, and a pioneer of forensic psychotherapy, passed away after a long and rich life in which she made many contributions to the mental health community not only in the United Kingdom, but also in Armenia.
A person of Armenian origin, Dermen grew up in Istanbul in Turkey, and, during her late adolescence, she moved to England and eventually trained as a child and adolescent psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic in London and then as an adult psychoanalyst at the Institute of Psycho-Analysis. A woman of great skill and passion, she eventually became a Training and Supervising Analyst and served as the Chair of the Admissions Committee under the auspices of the Institute of Psychoanalysis (by which time the institution had removed its hyphen)!
Sira Dermen will best be remembered for her many years of National Health Service work, based at the Portman Clinic in London, the noted psychoanalytically orientated forensic institution. She began her employment as Principal Adult Psychotherapist, during which time she helped to pioneer the application of forensic psychoanalytical thinking to young patients who had perpetrated violence. In doing so, she will undoubtedly have prevented many of these people from becoming hardened, lifelong criminals years thereafter. Ultimately, Dermen became an Honorary Senior Consultant at the Portman Clinic.
In addition to her contributions to the National Health Service, Dermen also maintained an independent practice and treated numerous patients over many decades with great success. Having referred several analysands to her across the years, I can report with no surprise that she always received excellent feedback.