Nina Coltart
Encyclopedia
Nina Coltart a British psychoanalyst, psychotherapist, and essayist, was born in Kent, England. Her father was a medical doctor and her mother, a housewife. In 1940 she and her younger sister Gill were evacuated to Cornwall
, where they lived with their maternal grandmother and a nanny who, years before, had cared for Coltart’s mother. Coltart’s parents died in a train wreck
under blackout conditions that year on their way to visit their daughters.
Coltart attended Sherborne School
and from there went to Somerville College, Oxford
, where she read English and Modern Languages. She applied to St. Bartholomew's Hospital's Medical College, where she was the first female editor of the Barts Journal. She earned a medical degree there and began work as a psychiatrist. Soon after Coltart began training in psychoanalysis. In her training analysis she was analyzed by Eva Rosenfeld. Coltart began her private practice in London in 1961. In 1964 Coltart qualified as an Associate Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society
. She became a Full Member in 1969, and a training analyst in 1971. Much later she would write, “Ever since childhood, I could think of nothing that gave me more intense enjoyment than listening to people telling me their stories. To that end she consulted with patients for referral, assessing more than 3,000 patients in her career.
Coltart was known as an enthusiastic, warm, and encouraging mentor. Christopher Bollas
called her "one of the great training analysts." She took on especially difficult patients and wrote "in language devoid of jargon, dogma, or pretentiousness" about her cases. She used concepts and thinkers from philosophy and literature to illuminate her writing and thought. Love, religion, grief, the psychoanalytic relationship, morality, culture, the silent patient, and the body -- including that of the therapist, who sits all day — are some of the many areas she explored. She lectured widely, traveling to the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and Israel.
Coltart was a neo-Freudian
and a Buddhist and theorized that there are distinct similarities in the transformation of the self that occurs in both psychoanalysis
and Buddhism
.
Coltart was Director of the London Clinic of Psychoanalysis for ten years and Vice President of the British Psychoanalytical Society
.
She retired in 1994 to her house in the country and died by suicide on June 24, 1997.
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, where they lived with their maternal grandmother and a nanny who, years before, had cared for Coltart’s mother. Coltart’s parents died in a train wreck
Train wreck
A train wreck or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an accident, such as when a train wheel jumps off a track in a derailment; or when a boiler...
under blackout conditions that year on their way to visit their daughters.
Coltart attended Sherborne School
Sherborne School
Sherborne School is a British independent school for boys, located in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England. It is one of the original member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
and from there went to Somerville College, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, where she read English and Modern Languages. She applied to St. Bartholomew's Hospital's Medical College, where she was the first female editor of the Barts Journal. She earned a medical degree there and began work as a psychiatrist. Soon after Coltart began training in psychoanalysis. In her training analysis she was analyzed by Eva Rosenfeld. Coltart began her private practice in London in 1961. In 1964 Coltart qualified as an Associate Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society
British Psychoanalytical Society
The British Psychoanalytical Society was founded by the British psychiatrist Ernest Jones as the London Psychoanalytical Society on October 30, 1913....
. She became a Full Member in 1969, and a training analyst in 1971. Much later she would write, “Ever since childhood, I could think of nothing that gave me more intense enjoyment than listening to people telling me their stories. To that end she consulted with patients for referral, assessing more than 3,000 patients in her career.
Coltart was known as an enthusiastic, warm, and encouraging mentor. Christopher Bollas
Christopher Bollas
Christopher Bollas is a British psychoanalyst and writer.-Early life and education:Bollas grew up in Laguna Beach, California and later graduated in history from UC Berkeley. As an undergraduate Bollas studied intellectual history with Carl Schorske, psychoanalytical anthropology with Alan Dundes,...
called her "one of the great training analysts." She took on especially difficult patients and wrote "in language devoid of jargon, dogma, or pretentiousness" about her cases. She used concepts and thinkers from philosophy and literature to illuminate her writing and thought. Love, religion, grief, the psychoanalytic relationship, morality, culture, the silent patient, and the body -- including that of the therapist, who sits all day — are some of the many areas she explored. She lectured widely, traveling to the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and Israel.
Coltart was a neo-Freudian
Neo-Freudian
The Neo-Freudian psychiatrists and psychologists were a group of loosely linked American theorists of the mid-twentieth century, who were all influenced by Sigmund Freud, but who extended his theories, often in social or cultural directions...
and a Buddhist and theorized that there are distinct similarities in the transformation of the self that occurs in both psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
.
Coltart was Director of the London Clinic of Psychoanalysis for ten years and Vice President of the British Psychoanalytical Society
British Psychoanalytical Society
The British Psychoanalytical Society was founded by the British psychiatrist Ernest Jones as the London Psychoanalytical Society on October 30, 1913....
.
She retired in 1994 to her house in the country and died by suicide on June 24, 1997.
External links
- Coltart, Nina. 1992. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Guilford Press, New York
- Coltart, Nina. 1993. How to Survive as a Psychotherapist, Sheldon Press, London
- Coltart, Nina. 1996. The Baby and the Bathwater, H. Karnac (Books) Ltd. London
- http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/cantle.htmAnthony Cantle, remarks, Freud MuseumFreud MuseumThe Freud Museum, at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, was the home of Sigmund Freud and his family when they escaped Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. It remained the family home until Anna Freud, the youngest daughter, died in 1982. The centrepiece of the museum is Freud's study, preserved...
Conference on the Therapist’s Body, 21 May 2000]