Johan Norman 1937-2005

Johan Norman, former President of the Swedish Psychoanalytic Society, died on 29 April 2005. He is survived by his wife Karin, his sons Andreas and Ludvig, and by two grandchildren.

For about two years, Johan fought the cancer that afflicted him. He was firm in his struggle; he wanted to find time to “straighten out his papers”, as he put it. To the very end, he was preoccupied by his work with his infant patients, whom he so often was able to provide with a satisfactoy quality of life, and also by editing an anthology on infant analysis that was already accepted for publication.

Johan's death creates a void. The loss is immense to members and candidates in the Swedish Society as well as to colleagues in the other Nordic Psychoanalytic Societies and to psychoanalysis at large. Johan is no longer here to inspire us with his knowledge, his energy, and his eagerness to widen the psychoanalytic project-theoretically as well as clinically. However, Johan leaves us with more than emptiness. He has made many “imprints”.

Before beginning his training and work as a psychoanalyst, Johan devoted himself to social medicine. For a time he led the “Krukis” (or Krukmakargatan) service and treatment centre for homeless men in Stockholm. In 1979, he defended his doctoral dissertation on this work. Thus, early on, driven by empathy and a search for understanding, Johan focussed on individuals exposed to adversity. These qualities were also prominent in his later work with the psychoanalysis of children and infants.

Johan started his psychoanalytic training in 1970 and became a member of the Swedish Psychoanalytical Society in 1974. He became a training analyst in 1986 and was a popular supervisor and lecturer. Johan was president of the Swedish Psychoanalytical Society between 1989 and 1993.

To a large extent, the growth and popularity of child analysis in Sweden during recent decades is the result of Johan's work. On the initiative of Annastina Rilton, Johan, Barbro Martell, and I were t