Nevenka Tadić (; sr-cyr, Невенка Тадић, ; 1926 – 25 September 2023) was a Serbian neuropsychiatrist most noted for her work in the

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

of children. She was the mother of

Boris Tadić Boris Tadić, (born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology. He later worked as a journalist ...

, the former

president of Serbia The president of Serbia (), officially styled as President of the Republic (), is the head of state of Serbia. The current officeholder is Aleksandar Vučić, who was elected in 2017 and has held the role since 31 May 2017. According to the C ...

and current leader of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

Early life

Nevenka Kićanović was born in

Bijeljina Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. As of 2013, it has a population of 107,715 ...

, ,

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

in 1926. Her mother Milica () came from the village of Drenovac Radučki in

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...

to the village of Brodac near

at the age of 16, got married there, and gave birth to a son and two daughters. Nevenka's father, Strahinja Kićanović, was a wealthy

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

and landowner, and as a leader of the Agrarian Party in

Semberija Semberija ( sr-Cyrl, Семберија, ) is a geographical region in north-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main city in the region is Bijeljina. Semberija is located between the Drina and Sava rivers and Majevica mountain. Most of the regi ...

before the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was twice a candidate to become a member of the

Parliament of Yugoslavia The Parliament of Yugoslavia was the legislature of Yugoslavia. Before World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the National Assembly (''Narodna skupština''), while in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the name was c ...

. He was killed in 1942 by the Ustashas in the Jadovno concentration camp, during the World War II genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia.

Professional career

After the war, Tadić got her medical degree from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

( Belgrade Medical School). She specialized in

neuropsychiatry Neuropsychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with psychiatry as it relates to neurology, in an effort to understand and attribute behavior to the interaction of neurobiology and social psychology factors. Within neuropsychiatry, the mind i ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, where she has worked from 1954 to 1962. In 1957, she went to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

for further education. There, she worked alongside some of the most notable French psychoanalysts such as Serge Lebovici, René Diatkine and Georges Heuyer. Afterwards, she has worked in Belgrade in the Mental Health Institute and, as a professor, on the Faculty of Defectology (today renamed to Faculty of

Special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

and Rehabilitation). She is an author of numerous books and articles, mainly related to the

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

of children. She has also translated the book ''La Psychanalyse de l'enfant'' by from French in 1970.

Personal life

Nevenka was married to Serbian

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Ljubomir Tadić (1925–2013), whom she met while studying at the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo (Bosnian language, Bosnian, Croatian language, Croatian and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a List of universities in Bo ...

and with whom she has two children – daughter Vjera (married Radović, born 1952) and son Boris (born 1958), both of whom went on to become psychologists. Boris has been the

President of Serbia The president of Serbia (), officially styled as President of the Republic (), is the head of state of Serbia. The current officeholder is Aleksandar Vučić, who was elected in 2017 and has held the role since 31 May 2017. According to the C ...

and the leader of the Democratic Party from 2004 to 2012. In February 2014, Boris Tadić left the Democratic Party to become the president of the

. Nevenka Tadić later lived in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. She died in September 2023, at the age of 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tadic, Nevenka 1926 births 2023 deaths People from Bijeljina Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbian psychiatrists University of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine alumni Boris Tadić Women psychiatrists