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In Memory of Irene Pierce Stiver, Ph.D.
Irene Pierce Stiver, Ph.D., died of lung cancer on September 24, 2000 at her home in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. In a review of her most recent book, a leader in the field described Dr. Stiver as a "legendary therapist and teacher." Dr. Stiver was the founder of, and for many years, the Director of the Department of Psychology of McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts, a major Harvard mental health teaching hospital. Under her guidance, the department grew to national prominence as a center for the training of clinical psychologists. Dr. Stiver has had a distinguished scholarly career but equally important is the personal gratitude and admiration that many of her students have felt for her. Over the decades many psychologists and other mental health professionals in training came to know Dr. Stiver's insightful and empathic understanding of patients and of themselves. Dr. Stiver was a sought after supervisor and consultant by those of her own and other disciplines. Many of her students in the Boston area and throughout the United States continue her work. "Generations of psychology trainees remember Irene for her brilliance, her magnificent clinical abilities, her help and generosity, her lively, energetic spirit and her warmth," said Judith Jordan, one of her former trainees and a colleague. "Irene was a brilliant therapist, one of the best ever," according to her colleague Jean Baker Miller. In her early years at McLean, she was known for her inspired and incisive interpretations of the Rorschach test. Dr. Stiver was the recipient of the Massachusetts Psychological Association's two highest honors: the Ezra Saul Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology and the Career Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Psychology as a Science and a Profession. She served as a sitevisitor for the program on accreditation of training programs of the American Psychological Association and was on the steering committee of the Massachusetts Society of Clinical Psychologists. For more than twenty years, Dr. Stiver turned her professional attention to the psychology of women. She was instrumental in the initiation of a women's studies program at McLean Hospital, again pointing a new direction for the work of the hospital. The program became the basis of the women's treatment unit, one of thefew such units in a major psychiatric teaching hospital, and a model for other programs. In 1981, Dr. Stiver also affiliated with the new Stone Center at Wellesley College, a center for the prevention of psychological problems. At the center, she became a major contributor to, and one of the pioneers of, the development of a new theoretical approach to psychology, Relational-Cultural Theory. Emerging from the study of women, the theory has been extended to redefine all human development. Manyclinicians have benefited from the workshops and trainings Dr. Stiver has done locally and nationally on this theory; she generated admiration and gratitude wherever she went. Dr. Stiver wrote many key papers which formed the basis of the theory, among them: a recasting of the concept of dependency and of the Oedipus complex, women's issues in the workplace, depression and sadness, the dynamics of troubled families, impasses in therapy and a relational reframing of therapy. In addition, she was coauthor of the books, Women's Growth in Connection and The Healing Connection and a major contributor to Women's Growth in Diversity. She and her colleagues at the Stone Center were seen as pioneers in the psychology of women. In 1995, Dr. Stiver became one of the Founding Scholars of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, a new separate division of the Stone Center dedicated to research and training in the Relational-Cultural Theory. In that role Dr. Stiver continued the development of the theory and its many applications. At the onset of her illness, shewas particularly interested in extending the theory to the creation of a more growth fostering workplace for both women and men. Dr. Stiver was born in New York City and spent her early life there. After graduation from Brooklyn College in New York City, she earned her Ph.D. from Cornell University. She began her career as an experimental psychologist and her first academic position was at Wellesley College as Assistant Professor of Psychology. As her interest in clinical psychology grew, she accepted a full-time position atMcLean Hospital. She was promoted to Director of the Psychology Department at McLean in 1958 and also Principal Associate in Psychiatry (Psychology) at Harvard Medical School. In 1991, she resigned from the hospital to pursue private practice full time and to devote her energies to the work of the Stone Center. Irene Stiver Scholarship Fund: Former students, colleagues, and friends have established the Irene Stiver Scholarship Fund. The fund will be dedicated to a cause close to Irene's heart and life's work, providing scholarships to professional andstudents. Anyone wishing to contribute should send donations to: Irene
Stiver Scholarship Fund |
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