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| Roy Schafer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Roy Schafer |
| Birth date | September 10, 1927 |
| Birth place | New York City, New York, United States |
| Death date | November 12, 2014 |
| Death place | New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Psychoanalyst, Clinical Psychologist, Author, Professor |
| Known for | Psychoanalytic theory, narrative approaches to therapy, research on narrative and malingering |
| Alma mater | Columbia University, New York University |
Roy Schafer was an American psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist noted for bridging psychoanalytic theory with narrative and constructivist approaches to psychotherapy. He produced influential work on the language of therapy, the role of narrative in clinical practice, and the conceptualization of symptom and self. His writings contributed to shifts in psychoanalytic theory toward hermeneutics and qualitative methods and influenced clinicians and scholars across United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy.
Born in New York City, Schafer completed undergraduate studies at New York University before pursuing graduate training in clinical psychology at Columbia University. He trained in psychoanalysis at the Washington Square Institute and later at psychoanalytic societies associated with the American Psychoanalytic Association and the International Psychoanalytical Association. During formative years he encountered figures from diverse intellectual milieus including contacts with scholars connected to Columbia University departments, clinicians associated with the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and researchers linked to New York University programs.
Schafer served on the faculty of Columbia University and held clinical appointments at institutions connected to the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. He maintained a private practice in New York City while teaching in psychoanalytic training programs and providing supervision to candidates at the International Psychoanalytical Association-affiliated institutes. His clinical work engaged with patients presenting a range of problems, and he contributed to evaluation protocols used in forensic contexts influenced by methodologies from American Psychological Association publications and assessments with roots in practices associated with Massachusetts General Hospital and other clinical centers.
He collaborated with clinicians and researchers active in networks including the American Psychoanalytic Association, Psychoanalytic Quarterly contributors, and international colleagues from University College London, the Sorbonne, and the University of Milan. Schafer participated in symposia and conferences organized by the British Psychoanalytical Society and the European Psychoanalytical Federation, influencing cross-national clinical dialogues.
Schafer is best known for reframing psychoanalytic interpretation through narrative and hermeneutic lenses. Drawing on writers and theorists linked to traditions that include scholars publishing in venues associated with Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, and Stanford University, he argued that symptom formation and therapeutic change are embedded in stories patients tell. He emphasized voices and vantage points, exploring how first-person accounts, counter-transference, and intersubjective exchanges shape meaning in analysis. His work dialogued with ideas circulating in circles around Wilfred Bion, Anna Freud, Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, and later relational thinkers such as Stephen Mitchell.
Schafer incorporated psychoanalytic concepts with narrative theory influenced by writers associated with literary and philosophical institutions such as Columbia University School of the Arts and thinkers examined in programs at Princeton University. He foregrounded therapeutic enactment as a language event and highlighted the ethics of interpretation, creating links to forensic and evaluative contexts discussed in forums at the American Bar Association and American Psychological Association.
Schafer authored books and articles published in journals and presses that intersect psychoanalysis, clinical psychology, and narrative studies. Notable works include titles well-cited in literature connected to the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. His collections of essays and monographs have been used in curricula at institutions such as Columbia University, New York University, University College London, and Harvard Medical School. He contributed chapters to edited volumes alongside contributors affiliated with the British Psychoanalytic Society and the American Psychoanalytic Association, and his papers have been translated for readers accessing scholarship through publishers in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
Schafer's emphasis on narrative and meaning-making influenced a generation of clinicians and scholars working within psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and constructivist traditions. His ideas shaped training programs at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, informed debates in journals like Psychoanalytic Quarterly and International Journal of Psychoanalysis, and resonated with educators at Columbia University and New York University. Internationally, his work contributed to conversation in forums such as the European Psychoanalytical Federation and at conferences hosted by universities including University College London and the Sorbonne.
He is frequently cited in discussions of clinical method, the ethics of interpretation, and narrative techniques used in psychotherapy and forensic assessment, with influence extending to professionals working in settings connected to the American Psychological Association, National Institutes of Health, and academic departments at Harvard University and Stanford University.
Schafer lived much of his life in New York City where he practiced and taught. He received professional recognition from organizations including the American Psychoanalytic Association and honorary invitations from international bodies such as the International Psychoanalytical Association and the British Psychoanalytic Council. Colleagues from institutions like Columbia University, New York University, and the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute commemorated his contributions through memorial lectures and special issues in journals such as the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Quarterly.
Category:Psychoanalysts Category:American psychologists Category:1927 births Category:2014 deaths