Psychiatric Bulletin (2007) 31: 78. doi: 10.1192/pb.bp.106.013813
© 2007 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Edulji (Eddy) Sethna
Formerly Consultant Psychiatrist, Hollymoor Hospital, Birmingham
Anne Sutcliffe
Dr Eddy Sethna was born on 3 December 1925 in Bombay, India. He won two
scholarships which entirely funded his medical school training and he
qualified with MB BS from Bombay in 1951. Having completed house jobs in
Bombay, he became a senior house officer in medicine at the Bury and
Rossendale Group of Hospitals in Lancashire in 1954, obtaining his MRCP in
1956.
Having specialised in cardiology at the London Heart Hospital and Sefton
General Hospital in Liverpool, he also obtained a diploma in tropical medicine
and hygiene in preparation for his return to India as a consultant physician
to the Jahangir Nursing Home in Poona. He spent 21 months in this post but
decided to return to England where he started his career as a
psychiatrist.
Eddy’s first psychiatric appointment was as a registrar at St Francis
and Lady Chichester Group of Hospitals in Sussex. He did his senior registrar
training in Birmingham and was appointed in 1966 as a consultant psychiatrist
to All Saints Hospital in Birmingham with an attachment to West Bromwich and
District Hospital. He was awarded his MRC Psych in 1971, and in 1976 he became
a consultant to Hollymoor Hospital in Birmingham and the Lyndon Clinic in
Solihull. He was elected FRCP in 1987, having been elected FRCPsych in
1986.
His publications included studies of the benefits of group psychotherapy
and refractory depression, but he also had a major interest in phobias. When
asked to organise a registrar training programme, Eddy with typical
thoroughness and attention to detail demanded that he be allowed to establish
the programme from scratch, ignoring the preconceived ideas of those more
senior. Having gained their support he established the first rotational
psychiatric training programme in the country. This scheme was so popular and
successful with the trainees that it was adopted by the Royal College of
Psychiatrists as their national model for rotational training.
In his early fifties, Eddy returned to his boyhood interest of photography
as an antidote to the stresses of his job. In retirement, he became a leader
and inspiration to the legions of amateur photographers taking tentative steps
into the field of digital photography. He approached digital photography as he
had approached medicine, studying the Adobe Photoshop computer programme
systematically so that he understood its everevolving capabilities. He
willingly offered one-to-one teaching sessions, wrote four books (two on paper
and two on CD), was instrumental in the formation of the Royal Photographic
Society’s Digital Imaging Group, was founding chairman of the Eyecon
Group and served as vice-president of the Royal Photographic Society. More
recently the Royal Photographic Society awarded Eddy its prestigious Fenton
Medal and Honorary Membership in recognition of his huge contribution to
photography in the UK. He had numerous acceptances in international
exhibitions and took great pride in the gold medal he was awarded shortly
before his death in recognition of his creativity.
Eddy died at home of Hodgkin’s lymphoma on 29 June 2006, cared for by
his wife, Beryl, and daughters, Beverley and Julie, as was his wish. Eddy is
survived by his wife, three children and seven grandchildren whom he
adored.
