Making minds more secure: remembering Gill McGauley

Forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy lost a major voice and thinker in July 2016 when Professor Gill McGauley died suddenly and unexpectedly, only three weeks after she had been diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus. This was a cruel and devastating loss; and especially painful because her family, friends and colleagues in the field of forensic psychotherapy had rejoiced with her in May when she gave her inaugural address as Professor of Medical Education and Forensic Psychotherapy at St George’s Hospital, London.

These types of loss are hard to articulate, or make sense of: there is a terrible irony here that Gill herself would be the best person to help us think about it. As many will know, Gill had made a particular study of attachment theory as it applied to forensic psychiatry, and had carried out important research into the childhood histories and attachment representations of violent offenders with severe personality disorders. Together with Luisa Avellan, she helped us to think about how a disorganized attachment system might have devastating effects on the capacity to be pro-social and to mentalize distress in adulthood. She was a member of an active group at Broadmoor Hospital, which sought to explore how her research, and that of Bateman and Fonagy (2008), Bateman, O’Connell, Lorenzini, Gardner, and Fonagy (2016) could be applied to the development of therapeutic interventions for men and women who were not only high risk offenders, but also suffered mental illness and personality disorder.

Gill was kind and funny and clever; wearing her learning lightly, and also managing to handle with grace and patience the distressing material we work with everyday as forensic psychotherapists. She would be the first to say that she was supported in this work by her family’s love and care, and also by her time as a patient in psychoanalysis. The psychoanalytic frame of reference helped her maintain that ‘third position’ that is crucial to forensic work, both in individual work, and at the organizational level. She was a valued member of the reflective practice team at Broadmoor, which tried to support and enable ward staff to care for forensic patients in long stay care; a job which is hard because it is complex, and emotionally laborious.

Gill was my friend and colleague for over 30 years; we trained at medical school together, and in psychiatry in London. We worked together in forensic psychiatry, we both became intrigued by the possibilities of forensic psychotherapy at the same time, trained in the use of the Adult Attachment Interview at the same time and worked together as consultants in forensic psychotherapy at Broadmoor Hospital for over a decade. We were working together on a book chapter for an international work when she became ill; and it will be painful to see it published without her, as well as this volume that has emerged from the two Special Issues of Forensic Psychotherapy published in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, for which she was Guest Editor. She would want us to carry on her work, though: to continue to study complex psychopathology to the best of our abilities; to explore therapeutic interventions and their efficacy; and to help develop the careers of young forensic psychotherapists, so that we have more Gill-like minds to help us in the work. Her friends and colleagues will grieve in many ways and at many times in the future, but perhaps especially for the future colleagues who will not have the pleasure of knowing Professor Gill McGauley.

Gwen Adshead
September 26th 2016