
Volume 06 - Number 1 - June 1999
Pages: 1 - 52
Elovitz, P. H. (1999). In memoriam: Robert Chaikin [Memorial]. Clio’s Psyche, 6(1), 40.
In Memoriam: Robert Chaikin
Intro
On April 19, Robert Chaikin of Atlanta, Georgia, was killed instantly at the age of 52 in an auto accident. An occasional member of the Psychohistory Forum, Chaikin was an active member of the IPA and of the Group for the Psychohistorical Understanding of Film. His publications included an article on the film King Kong in the Psychoanalytic Review. His most recent project was on professional wrestling to understand it as a theater of ritual group fantasy.
film analysis, International Psychohistorical Institute (IPhA), King Kong, memorial, Psychoanalytic Review, psychohistory, Psychohistory Forum, ritual group fantasy, Robert Chaikin, wrestling
On April 19, Robert Chaikin of Atlanta, Georgia, was killed instantly at the age of 52 in an auto accident. An occasional member of the Psychohistory Forum, Chaikin was an active member of the IPA and of the Group for the Psychohistorical Understanding of Film. His publications included an article on the film King Kong in the Psychoanalytic Review. His most recent project was on professional wrestling to understand it as a theater of ritual group fantasy.
Chaikin, who worked as a social worker, was a Harvard undergraduate when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Despite his struggle with his illness, Robert finished his bachelor’s degree at Hunter and then his MSW. His psychological struggle meant that he sometimes was unable to fulfill his professional obligations as a scheduled presenter at the IPA. In part due to Henry Lawton’s generous phone therapy with him, Chaikin was able to attend psychohistorical conferences in Amersterdam and Paris in 1997 and 1998, and was planning to go to Europe again this year.
Robert was single and there are no immediate survivors. I am indebted to Anne Deble, leader of his schizophrenia support group, for providing information for this notice.
Page 40
How to cite this article
Elovitz, P. H. (1999). In memoriam: Robert Chaikin [Memorial]. Clio’s Psyche, 6(1), 40.



