Lora Tessman Collection, (1957 – 2013)
Descriptive Summary |
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| Repository: | The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute |
| Creator: | Lora Tessman (1928- ) |
| Title: | Lora Tessman Collection |
| Dates: | (1957 – 2013) |
| Quantity: | 1 archival box |
| Abstract: | Lora Heims Tessman is a psychoanalyst known for her books The Analyst’s Analyst Within (2013) and Children of Parting Parents (1978). This collection contains an interview taped at BPSI, and a variety of essays, articles, book reviews, papers presented at conferences and dissertation. The included partial bibliography of Tessman’s works demonstrates how widely published she is within her field. |
| Identification: | MS-N059 |
| Languages: | Materials are in English |
Historical Note
Lora Heims Tessman was born in Germany in 1928, and came to the United States at age 10. Studying Clinical Psychology at the University of California, and then at the Harvard Department of Social Relations, she received her doctorate in 1957. She is a member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and of IPTAR, the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in NY. She practices psychoanalysis, supervision, and psychotherapy in Newton, Massachusetts. Earlier she was a psychotherapist and researcher at the Judge Baker Guidance Center, the Boston Floating hospital, and, from 1961 to 1992, the Psychiatric Service of MIT. She is author of the books Children of Parting Parents (1978) and of The Analyst’s Analyst Within (2003), Tessman has had a long standing interest in comparing nuances of intrapsychic dynamics in the treatment process with different populations. In the nineteen fifties and sixties she authored and co-authored papers about the treatment of children referred for either arson; incest; school phobia, or schizophrenia in a clinical research setting at the Judge Baker Guidance Center; and about creativity in gifted students and scientists, encountered in the psychiatric service at MIT. In the seventies her book Children of Parting Parents compared the dynamics of internalization in children in treatment who had lost a parent through death with those who lost a parent through divorce. In the eighties she became Co-Investigator in an interview study of “Career and Adult Development” of former MIT students of the class of 1965 and 1975. A series of papers explored the father’s contribution to the daughter’s ways of loving and working. In 1995 she became Principle Investigator in an IPA supported research project consisting of a series of in depth taped interviews with psychoanalysts, mostly members of the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, to study the changes in how the analyst’s own analyst is experienced intrapsychically over time after termination. The analyst/analysand participants portrayed the intricate, but powerful connections between the particulars of their satisfactions or dissatisfactions with their former analysts and the continued development of their own erotic and professional lives. This exploration was a groundbreaking study that was both highly influential within the field and a best seller.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of Tessman’s doctoral thesis as well as documents such as articles, papers presented at conferences, and book reviews. Also included is a partial bibliography of her works. Audio of a 2013 interview with Tessman for the Boston Psychoanalytical Society and Institute can be found as well.
Finding aid for this collection is available here.
Series Arrangement
Series 1: CD-Rom
Series 2: Paper documents
Series 3: Thesis
Restrictions
Restrictions to Access
If you wish to access any records in the BPSI Archives, please email library@bpsi.org or call 617-266-0953.
Some content restricted to BPSI members.
Copyright Notice
Please contact The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute for copyright information.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in Lora Tessman Collection, The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Dr. Tessman donated these materials to the BPSI archives in August of 2013.
Processing Information
Processed and encoded by Rachel Scavera in 2014
The materials in this collection have been re-housed in acid free folders when necessary and placed in an archival box. The original order has been preserved.
