Coline Covington (In Memoriam) | Fellow

Coline Covington (In Memoriam) | Fellow

Coline Covington worked as a Jungian analyst in private practice in London for many years. Born in the United States, Coline came to England after receiving her B.A. in political theory from Princeton University. She went on to do an M.Phil. in criminology at Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in sociology at LSE. She worked for many years as a consultant to local government agencies throughout the UK in setting up programmes for young offenders as alternatives to prison. In conjunction with the Metropolitan Police, Coline set up the first mediation scheme between victims and offenders in the United Kingdom.

Coline was a chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council, an association of member institutions representing psychoanalytic psychotherapy training organizations within the UK. She was a Training Analyst of the Society of Analytical Psychology and the British Psychotherapy Foundation, and a former Editor of the international Journal of Analytical Psychology.

Coline’s publications include Terrorism and War: Unconscious Dynamics of Political Violence, with an Introduction by Lord Alderdice (Karnac, 2002); Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2003); Shrinking the News: Headline Stories on the Couch (Karnac, 2013); Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis, 2nd Edition (Routledge, forthcoming); and a recent trilogy examining current cultural dynamics: Everyday Evils: A Psychoanalytic View of Evil and Morality (Routledge, 2016), For Goodness Sake: Bravery, Patriotism and Identity (Phoenix Publishing House, 2020) and Who’s to Blame: Collective Guilt on Trial (Routledge, 2023).. Coline was also a columnist for the online newspaper The Week (www.theweek.co.uk).

Coline brought warmth, insightfulness and humanity to everything she did. Her last IDI project was to arrange, and plan to moderate, a presentation by Lord David Owen on “The Dynamics of War Today.” This will be the first in the IDI’s The Psychology of Societal Conflict series, which was an initiative dear to Coline’s heart and which she planned to lead. It has been our great privilege to have worked with, and shared the wonderful company of, Coline for so many years. We are heartbroken at her loss and will miss her deeply.