Edward Tronick’s Work Wins The Sigourney Award-2022
/Seminal Work on Repairing Relational Disruptions Earns Edward Tronick, PhD, The Sigourney Award-2022
Seattle, WA — Nov. 16, 2022 – The Sigourney Award annually rewards achievements within the recent decade that advance psychoanalytic thought and principles and their ability to benefit humankind. This year, a panel of distinguished judges evaluated work from an extraordinary pool of international applicants seeking the prestigious Award and substantial cash prize. Robin A. Deutsch, PhD and Analyst Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust announced today that Dr. Edward Tronick’s seminal work on repairing relational disruptions has won The Sigourney Award-2022 along with four additional recipients.
“Dr. Tronick’s work in developmental psychoanalysis revises the psychoanalytic understanding of infancy and development to one involving disorganization and repair,” says Dr. Deutsch. “His pivotal work and that of others honored this year are important illustrations of the psychoanalytic contributions our organization’s founder, Mary Sigourney, sought to encourage and reward,” she adds.
Dr. Tronick’s seminal work focused on the concept of repair of relational disruptions as a major change process in psychological development and the healing of psychological illness. It elaborates on his original model of mutual regulation. A Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, and Chief Faculty Early Relational Health Fellowship, Tronick published more than 80 papers representing cutting-edge contributions to understanding biological and scientific advances in physiology, genetics, and epigenetics from 2011-2021.
Building upon his Still-Face Paradigm work, he developed a new experimental paradigm for evaluating the effects on the infant of mildly stressing the mother. Tronick’s contributions offer psychoanalysts a scientific basis for the link between relational experience in the dyad and psychological health or illness in the individual. His work has generated the concept of the 'something more' in analysis as meanings made not conveyed by language or narrative. His work has reimagined both the infant and the analysand as more pro-active and co-creative than the passive model of both had suggested. The transference involves continuously operating implicit neurosomatic forms of meaning: the something more. The paradigm shifts our view of development and analysis to a discordant process of active agents engaged in finding shared meanings. A recent book co-authored with Claudia M. Gold, MD, The Power Of Discord: Why The Ups And Downs Of Relationships Are The Secret To Building Intimacy, Resilience, And Trust (Little Brown. 2020) raises the profile of psychoanalysis and the broader application of psychoanalysis.
“I am passionate about bringing a deeper understanding of psychoanalysis to benefit people and other fields of study. My Face-to- Face Still-Face paradigm has evolved and exemplifies that commitment, providing a critical tool for the study of human growth and development of dyadic systems that lasts,” says Tronick. “I appreciate receiving The Sigourney Award and the renowned recognition it offers for my work,” he adds.
Currently, Tronick is Head Faculty in an Early Relation Health Fellowship at UMass Chan Medical School and teaches up to 10 sessions on various developmental topics over two years, including topics of Repair and Buffer Models of Development, Cross Cultural Development, Attachment, Dyadic States of Consciousness Theory, Dyadic Therapy, ASD and Sensory Integration, Infant Development, and Newborn Assessment.
In the past decade, Tronick has presented to large audiences of professionals from more than 40 countries including ranging from The Australian Childhood Foundation Conference, “Childhood Trauma: Understanding the basis of change and recovery”; UMass Boston and NPR News’ Ideas Boston Keynote/Plenary Address, Early Childhood Development “Repair and Relationships”; Reach Grenada / St. George's University with “Meaning Making and Development”; to the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Eastern and Southern Norway where he presented “The bridge between attachment and trauma” and the ISC International 2018 Attachment and Trauma Congress presenting “Multilevel Meaning Making, Relational Regulation and Stress” in London.
“It is inspiring to learn about the momentous work being done to advance the benefits and expand the reach of psychoanalysis, and I believe our founder, Mary Sigourney, would whole-heartedly agree with the distinguished judges decisions to honor all of our 2022 awardees whom we induct into this revered community,” says Barbara Sherland, J.D., Attorney Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust. “We believe recognizing their efforts will encourage others to consider sharing their own work for consideration in our upcoming Sigourney Award applications,” she adds.
Dr. Tronick’s award-winning work is added to a long list of innovative contributions advancing psychoanalytic thought that, since 1990, have been honored with The Sigourney Award. This year, he shares this honor with Dr. Giuseppe Civitarese (Pavia, Italy), Dr. Jack Drescher (New York, USA), Dr. Dorothy Holmes (South Carolina, USA), and Professor Alessandra Lemma (London, UK) whose work also met the demanding Award criteria.