Betty Joseph (7 March 1917 – 4 April 2013), was a British psychoanalyst and writer, and a follower of the work of

Melanie Klein Melanie Klein (née Reizes; 30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Klein suggested t ...

. According to her obituary in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', she "was widely considered to be one of the great psychoanalysts of her day".

Biography

Betty Joseph was born on 7 March 1917, at 403 Gillott Road,

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, the daughter of Henry Joseph (1879–1941), an electrical engineer, and his wife, Nennie May Joseph, née Rudelsheim (1883–1966). Both of her parents were from Anglo-Jewish families that had come to the UK from

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

in the early eighteenth century. She was educated at

Wolverhampton Girls' High School (Game Before the Prize) , established = 1911 , closed = , type = Grammar school;academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head = Trudi Young , r_head = , cha ...

, followed by training in social work at

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

, and the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Joseph worked in civil defence, and was a lorry driver at one point, and worked with often traumatised child evacuees. She went into analysis with

Michael Balint , , image = Monte Verità Gedenktafel Michael Balint 1K4A4638-b.jpg , caption = , birth_name = Mihály Maurice Bergsmann , birth_date = , birth_place = Budapest , death_date = , death_place = London , occupation = psychoan ...

, and later with

Paula Heimann Paula Heimann (née Klatzko; 2 February 1899 – 22 October 1982) was a German psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who established the phenomenon of countertransference as an important tool of psychoanalytic treatment. Life in Germany Born in ...

. Joseph was known for her meta-analysis, the analysis of the process of psychoanalysis itself, and for taking an empirical, scientific approach to the subject. Joseph thought that it was important for the analyst to focus on what the patient was doing during analysis sessions, not just what they were saying, in trying to get at the underlying "psychic reality". Joseph was the chairman of the Melanie Klein Trust from 1991 to 2006. She never married. Joseph died on 4 April 2013 from heart disease, at her home in Clifton Hill,

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

, London.

Selected publications

In 1989, she published ''Psychic Equilibrium and Psychic Change'', a selection of her papers.

Awards and honours

In 1995, Joseph received the

Sigourney Award Sigourney may refer to: People Surname * Edith Sigourney (1895–1982), American tennis player * James Sigourney (c. 1790–1813), American naval officer * Lydia Sigourney (1791–1865), American author and poet Given name * Sigourney Bandjar ( ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Betty 1917 births 2013 deaths British psychoanalysts People educated at Wolverhampton Girls' High School People from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of the London School of Economics Analysands of Michael Balint