Denis Vernon Carpy

Denis Carpy was born on 24 July 1951 and died on 9 June 2000. His early death has robbed British psychoanalyis and Scottish psychiatry of one of its most prominent figures. His contributions as a clinician, supervisor and teacher were widely recognised and his loss is sorely felt.

Denis Carpy was brought up in Rutherglen and educated at Holy Cross High School in Hamilton. He went to Glasgow University in 1968 to study medicine and graduated in 1974. He was elected MRCP in 1977. His early postgraduate posts were in general medicine, but it was always his intention to practise psychiatry and he became a registrar in psychiatry at the Southern General Hospital in 1977. Thereafter, he was a lecturer in psychological medicine at the University of Glasgow before moving to London to specialise in psychoanalysis. He worked initially at the Cassel Hospital before moving to the Tavistock Clinic as a senior registrar in psychotherapy. He completed his psychoanalytic training and became an associate member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society and a consultant psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic. Throughout his time in London he remained close to his roots in the West of Scotland and, when the opportunity arose, he returned and became consultant psychotherapist at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow in 1990.

After his return to Glasgow he remained active in the British Psycho-Analytical Society. His reputation there had been high and it increased in the years that followed. He was very keen to foster wider links between psychotherapists based in Scotland and the practitioners of the British Psycho-Analytical Society.

Dr Carpy was an inspiring teacher, keenly interested in teaching the effectiveness of psychoanalytic theory in understanding people who present with emotional problems. To further this aim he took on the position of course organiser for the West of Scotland Postgraduate Training Scheme in Psychiatry.

In the field of psychotherapy in Scotland he provided a degree of intellectual leadership that was much admired. He was specialty tutor for psychotherapy in the West of Scotland Postgraduate Training Scheme, a training analyst and secretary of the Psychoanalytic Training Committee of the Scottish Institute of Human Relations, an active member of the Scottish Association of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapists and of the Psychotherapy Section of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He was elected MRCPsych in 1979, and elected to the Fellowship in 1999.

In his work at the Southern General Hospital, Dr Carpy exhibited a high level of clinical expertise. He was keenly aware of the importance of psychotherapeutic insights to the work of general psychiatry and he worked hard to build links between these two disciplines. His opinions on clinical matters were widely sought by psychotherapy colleagues and general psychiatrists. His pupils and colleagues found his insight helpful, but he was also memorable for the humour and rich language he brought to his work. A paper published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis on the mutative effect of tolerating the countertransference has been a seminal contribution much quoted in the international psychoanalytic literature.

Despite his heavy professional commitments the most important part of Denis Carpy's life was his marriage and his family. He was happily married to his wife Carol-Anne and their close relationship and mutual support for each other was recognised by all who knew them. Together they established a loving and caring environment in which they raised their two children, Brian and Eleanor.

Dr Carpy's life was cut short, but not before he had made a lasting contribution that will live on in many lives; his family, his friends and colleagues, his patients and his students.