Disability therapy and Valerie Sinason
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-02-2022-0008 |
| Published date | 18 April 2022 |
| Date | 18 April 2022 |
| Pages | 179-183 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities |
| Author | David O'Driscoll |
Disability therapy and Valerie Sinason
David O’Driscoll
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aimsto discuss the work of Dr Valerie Sinason and her contributionto working with
people withan intellectual disability with psychotherapy.
Design/methodology/approach –Dr Valerie Sinason is a psychoanalyst, and the author is trained in
psychoanalyticpsychotherapy.
Findings –The author believes there is importantvalue in reading Valerie Sinason’s contribution to the
literatureof psychotherapy with people with intellectualdisabilities.
Originality/value –It is a review of Sinason’s contribution,and the author believes she’s very original
and importantthinker.
Keywords Psychotherapy, Trauma, Sexual abuse, Intellectual disability,
Psychotherapy intellectual disability trauma abuse,
Psychotherapy intellectual disability trauma sexual abuse
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
Valerie Sinason has become a byword for pioneering work in developing the new field of
“disability psychotherapy”. Today, she is recognised as the principal innovator of a
psychoanalytic approach for people with intellectual disabilities (ID), a group of people
who, historically, have attracted only intermittent psychological interest (O’Driscoll,
2009). She has also made significant contributions to the fields of dissociation, trauma
studies (Sinason, 2020) and abuse (Conway and Sinason, 2022) and is a published poet
too (Sinason, 1988). In this brief paper, I will focus on her contribution to the field of
“disability psychotherapy” to celebrate her achievements as she recently turned seventy-
five.
Sinason developed her interest in psychotherapy while working as a secondary school
teacher and then progressed by studying child psychotherapy at London’s pioneering
training Centre, the Tavistock Clinic. It was here that Sinason developed her ideas on ID.
She was involved in establishing the first specialist clinic and training on working
therapeutically with people with ID. My first contact with her was there in 1997, where she
chaired a multidisciplinary group that met weekly to listen to case presentations. I was
struck by such a diverse group of professionals attending: psychiatrists, nurses, teachers
and social workers with different theoretical approaches (O’Driscoll, 2019, p. 94). Sinason
fostered an open inquiry with all views welcome, not just a psychoanalytic approach. Since
then, she has contributed a continuous output of published work with her book (Sinason,
1992) which is considered a landmark publication in the history of psychotherapy
publishing (Corbet, 2019). Mental Handicap and the Human Condition has been reprinted
almost yearly and the second edition, with three further chapters, was published in 2010. It
is clearly the “go to” book for disability therapists of all persuasions,and Sinason is currently
revising it for a new edition. After her time at the Tavistock, Sinason moved to St Georges
Hospital, London, where she collaborated with Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins. There
she worked clinically but also obtained a Ph.D. and became a Psychoanalyst.
David O’Driscoll is
Psychoanalytic
Psychotherapist, Specialist
Learning Disability Service
at Hertfordshire Partnership
NHS Foundation Trust,
Stevenage, UK and Chair at
the Institute of
Psychotherapy, UK.
Received 2 February 2022
Revised 3 March 2022
Accepted 7 March 2022
The author would like to
acknowledge Prof Nigel Beail
and an anonymous reviewers
for their help in the paper.
DOI 10.1108/AMHID-02-2022-0008 VOL. 16 NO. 3 2022, pp. 179-183, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282 jADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIESjPAGE 179
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