User:Katinka1963/sandbox/David E. Scharff, M.D.

David E. Scharff, M.D. David Edward Scharff, M.D., (born January 14, 1941) is an American psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Scharff is widely considered to be one of the most important contemporary contributors to the theory and practice of psychoanalytic family and couple therapy. He is credited with popularizing British Object Relations to the United States, including the work of such important theorists such as R.W.D. Fairbairn, Melanie Klein, John Bowlby, Donald Winnicott, Wilfred Bion and others. Internationally, Scharff has been a key figure in promoting psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and an Object Relations approach to understanding individual, family and couple dynamics, the centrality of the therapeutic relationship, and the role of culture in human experience. He has also significantly influenced the arenas of sex therapy, group relations, mental health teaching, and distance/technology-assisted learning. He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 35 books (including foundational texts on the theory and practice Object Relations therapy ), and 75 articles. Scharff has taught and presented in 28 countries. HIs work has been translated into 8 languages. Scharff is the founder of the Washington, DC-based International Psychotherapy Institute (formerly the International Institute of Object Relations Therapy). Biography Scharff was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended the St. Louis Country Day School, graduating in 1958. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Yale University in 1962, and received his medical degree from Harvard University Medical School in 1966. Scharff conducted his medical internship at Tufts-New England Medcial Center 1966-1967), his Pyschiatric Residency at Massachusetts Medical Center (1967-1979), and his Fellowship in Child Psychiatry at Beth Israel Medical Center (1969-1970). Since 1969 he has maintained a private practice adult and child psychiatry, psychoanalysis (since 1977), including psychosexual, marital and family psychiatry. In 1973, frustrated with limits of Freud’s theories, Scharff traveled to London, where he studied at the Tavistock Clinic. There his teachers and mentors included John Bowlby, Arthur Hyatt-Williams and Robert Gosling. While at the Tavistock, Scharff studied group relations theory (notably the work of Wilfred Bion). This aspect of Scharff's early training became a seminal influence on his subsequent development The Group Affective Model, an experiential approach to training clinicians that emphasizes the integration of cognitive and affective aspects learning. It was at the Tavistock Clinic that Scharff met Jill Savege, M.D. Jill Savege Scharff, also a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, has been his wife and collaborator for 45 years. Scharff returned to the U.S. in 1974. He trained at the Washington Psychoanlytic Institute, and served as the Director of the Washington School of Psychiatry. He is currently Chair of the Board and Co-Founder, International Psychotherapy Institute; Chair, Committee on Family and Couple Psychoanalysis of the International Psychoanalytic Association; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Georgetown University; Supervising Analyst, International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training; Teaching Analyst, Washington Psychoanalytic Institute; Honorary Fellow, Tavistock Relationships, London; Director, Couple and Family Program, Beijing; Child and Adult Analyst, Private Practice in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Previously, Scharff served as President, American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists; Vice-President, International Association for Couple and Family Psychoanalysis; Director, Washington School of Psychiatry; Co-Director, International Psychotherapy Institute.

The following are especially prominent contributions. First, as noted, in America he brought and popularized British Object Relations theory and practice. Second, he was one of the key innovators who applied the theories of individual psychoanalysis to couple and family therapy. Third, Scharff has been a force in respecting and using diverse theoretical and technical perspectives. Here are a few examples. Seeing the importance of sex in the lives of couples, he integrated psychoanalytic interventions with sex therapy. In addition to British Object Relations theory, he has incorporated neuroscience, chaos theory, attachment theory, and psychoanalytic theories from around the world. Fourth, he has been dedicated to international education through his writing and travel, teaching on five continents, and has had his work translated into Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, French, German, and Italian. He is currently directing training programs in Beijing and Moscow and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China.” Fifth, he created an international learning community in 1994 by co-founding the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI). Finally, he has been a pioneer in distance learning, using video, audio and internet technology in teaching, supervision, and treatment -- adopting them long before most practitioners. Key Citations: Scharff, D. E. (1982). The sexual relationship: An object relations view of sex and the family. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Scharff, D. E. & Scharff, J. S. (1987). Object relations family therapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Scharff, D. E. & Scharff, J. S. (1991). Object relations couple therapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Scharff, J. S. & Scharff, D. E. (1994). Object relations therapy of physical and sexual trauma. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Scharff, J. S. & Scharff, D. E. (1998). Object relations individual therapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Scharff, J. S. & Scharff, D. E. (2005). The primer of object relations therapy: 2nd revised and enlarged edition. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson. Scharff, D. E., & Scharff, J. S. (2011). The interpersonal unconscious. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson. Scharff, D. E. & Scharff, J. S. (2014). Psychoanalytic couple therapy. London and New York: Karnac. Scharff, D. E. & Varvin, S (Eds.)(2014). Psychoanalysis in China. London and New York: Karnac. Losso, R., Setton, L. & Scharff, D. E.(Eds.) (2017).The linked self in psychoanalysis: the pioneering work of Enrique Pichon Rivière. London and New York: Karnac. Scharff, D. E. & Palacios, E. (Eds.) (2017). Family and couple psychoanalysis: a global perspective. London and New York: Karnac. Cross-References: Conjoint Sex Therapy Countertransference in Couple and Family Therapy Internal Objects in Couple and Family Therapy Object Relations Couple Therapy Object Relations Family Therapy Object Relations Theory in Couple and Family Therapy Projective Identification in Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Therapy Transference in Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Therapy