Tor-Björn Hägglun 1928-2004

Tor-Björn Hägglund died of a serious illness on 7^th November 2004, in his home in Oulu, where he had been working since 1976. He was 76-years-old when he died. He was born on 10^th March 1928, in Pietarsaari. He graduated in 1954, receiving his Licentiate of Dentistry, and in 1960, his Licentiate of Medicine, from the University of Helsinki. He belonged to the first Finnish group that trained under the auspices of the IPA, and graduated as a psychoanalyst in 1967. From 1973 onwards, he was a training analyst of the Finnish Psychoanalytical Society. At the same time, he was active as a researcher, and he defended his thesis in 1976, earning his Doctorate of Medicine. His thesis, “Dying-A Psychoanalytic Study”, is a profound and internationally acclaimed study of creativity and of coming face-to-face with sorrow and death. During the years 1976- 1989, Tor-Björn Hägglund was Professor of Psychotherapy and Medical Psychology at the University of Oulu, and Senior Lecturer of Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Helsinki.

In 1970, he was awarded the Duodecim-prize for his research into the psychodynamics of dying, and in 1980, he was awarded the State Prize for the Dissemination of Information (valtion tiedonjulkistamispalkinto) for his publications concerning adolescents. In 1994, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu.

Tor-Björn Hägglund's work on behalf of psychoanalysis in Finland and the Finnish Psychoanalytical Society was significant. For three decades, he worked as a teacher and a training analyst. During the beginning of the 1980s, he served as the President of our Society.

He was a pioneer in many fields. Together with his wife, psychoanalyst Vilja Hägglund, he brought psychoanalytic culture to northern Finland in the 1970s. They were the founders of the Monastery Psychotherapy Foundation, and, together with their students, thereby founded and built a psychotherapy centre for the training of psychotherapists.