Description
Having initially trained as a psychiatrist, Leslie Sohn’s interest in psychoanalysis was inspired by Clifford Scott and William Gillespie whilst working at the Maudsley Hospital. He qualified as a psychoanalyst in 1952 and over time also a training analyst.
In the course of a period of 62 years seamlessly employed by the NHS, Dr Sohn assessed and treated hundreds of patients and supervised and inspired hundreds of juniors, from medical and other disciplines, excelling as a clinician and teacher. In particular, his attachment to the Medium Secure Unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital (Dennis Hill Unit) revolutionised the way of thinking and understanding violent behaviour in mentally disordered offenders and in particular, those suffering from psychotic illnesses.
His paper ‘Unprovoked Assaults’ was particularly influential in providing a way of understanding the apparently inexplicable, sudden and often bizarre, violent offences carried out by mentally ill patients, indicating that there was indeed a provocation, albeit a complex psychical one arising from traumatic historical events, where the victim of the assault becomes a suitable external recipient for the extreme projections that are enacted bodily through the violent act.
