Obituary Ann Casement (1938–2025)

Jungian analyst Ann Casement was born in Bombay in January 1938, into an old colonial family. Her earliest vivid memory, one which stayed with her throughout her life, was from three years of age and of Dehradun, in the Himalayan foothills of the Doon Valley. There her beloved father, Rodney Chase, trained as an officer in the Royal Indian Army in order to serve in World War II. In 1951, at 13, she was brought to London where she gradually adapted to life in the West, but her Indian roots remained deeply embedded in the Mataram and remained with her until her death. She lived with her father, who had resumed his successful architectural practice in London, but he died shortly after when Ann was only 16. She was proud that he was bestowed with the Military Cross for his conduct during the war. As a cradle Catholic, Ann was schooled exclusively in convents under the devoted care of the nuns who looked after her education and well-being. At the Sorbonne in the late 1950s, her encounter with Claude Lévi-Strauss led her to take up anthropology at the London School of Economics and physical anthropology became imprinted in her as a lifelong interest. Ann began her first Jungian analysis in her early 20s, which she took to immediately and she came to realize her calling to train as a psychoanalyst. She left her work in psychiatry to focus on building her psychoanalytic practice and worked as both a Jungian analyst and a Neuropsychoanalyst; she was steeped in archetypal and developmental theory and practice and incorporated contemporary Freudian, Kleinian, neo-Kleinian, Lacanian and CBT approaches in her work. Her career was studded with multifaceted areas of service: a founding member of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society, she also served on the International Association for Analytical Psychology’s Executive Committee and its Ethics Committee, being appointed Chair of the latter for two of her three terms. She was a Fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal Anthropological Institute. Ann worked in many parts of the world, including the United States, Lithuania and Russia, Latin America, Israel, South Africa, China and Japan. She worked for two years with Lord John Alderdice in the UK House of Lords on a Private Member’s Bill for the statutory regulation of psychotherapists/psychoanalysts. She contributed to The Economist and professional journals worldwide, was on editorial advisory boards, and produced eight books and contributed chapters to other authors’ books. For many years she was on the Council of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. Her rich and full personal life included her four adored children, Jane, twins Alexi and Caroline, and Jason Armitage from her first marriage. Her second marriage to award-winning science writer Richard Casement ended with his sudden death at 40 while they were together on holiday in Deia, Mallorca. Ann’s dedication to her analysands and supervisees was of utmost importance to her. With the support of her children and her many colleagues and friends, she worked worldwide well into her elder years. Ann served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Analytical Psychology. In July 2023, she graced the Journal with an interview conducted by her longstanding friend Joe Cambray, in which she noted wryly, “I think it’s in my genes because people look at me and see ‘chair’. Before I know it, I’m chair of something.” In that conversation, Ann also shared, “You don’t get over losing your motherland. I feel on some level I’ve lived in exile since I was 13.” 1 Yet the rich history Ann discussed both in her interview and with her colleagues over the span of her life conveys the professional and collegial home she built, in providing such significant service in such diverse venues. 2

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