Paul H. Ornstein, MD (1924–2017)

Paul H. Ornstein was a leading figure in advancing self psychological psychoanalysis, a theory that catalysed changes in the practice of psychoanalysis. He was a remarkable person and an outstanding teacher, supervisor and clinician. Born on 4 April 1924 in northeastern Hungary, he lived through the most horrifying years of the twentieth century and survived forced labour on the front line in the Ukraine and in the Carpathian Mountains during World War II. His family was killed, all but his father. Before the war, he fell in love with a girl from a neighbouring village, Anna Brunn. After the war, they found each other—she had survived Auschwitz—and they married. Together, they earnt medical degrees from the University of Heidelberg, completed their psychiatry residency at the University of Cincinnati and trained at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. Analytic training was rooted in North American ego psychology but Ornstein's fateful relationships, as supervisee, colleague and friend, with Michael Balint and Heinz Kohut influenced the psychoanalytic trajectory of his life. He died in Boston on 19 January 2017 at the age of 92.

Ornstein treated patients, wrote, lectured, supervised, taught residents and candidates, mentored young clinicians from around the world and served on many editorial boards. He published more than 100 clinical, theoretical and scholarly articles in several languages, many with Anna Ornstein. Together with Anna, he conducted hundreds of seminars and workshops throughout the world. They raised three children, Sharone, Miriam and Rafael. He is survived by Anna Ornstein, his wife of 71 years, their three children and seven grandchildren. Their children all became psychiatrists. Two also became psychoanalysts, and married psychiatrists, one who is also a psychoanalyst.

Ornstein’s writings encompassed the uses of empathy, the interpretative process, omnipotence in health and illness, “Chronic Rage from Underground,” unconscious fantasy, dreams,