Dr Morton Schatzman and Sinéad O’Connor [Bryan Ledgard]

FOR Sinéad O’Connor, nothing compared to a psychotherapist – and his trusty dog – who made a lasting impression on the late, great singer-songwriter during what she described as a lonely period in her life.

The singer, who died last week aged 56, named her 1997 album Gospel Oak, and chose a photo of the arched brick bridges by the station in Gordon House Road for the cover. This was a tribute to the help she received from Dr Morton Schatzman, who she wrote about in her autobiography Rememberings.

“Gospel Oak was named for the London neighbourhood where I was visiting a therapist six days a week,” Ms O’Connor wrote.

“His name was Morton Schatzman, a very old Jewish psychiatrist whose dog used to sit at his feet licking its balls. It was so embarrassing while I was sitting there trying to explain what was wrong with me.

“What I liked about Dr Schatzman was he said you come to therapy to find out there’s nothing wrong with you. But there was certainly something wrong with me when his dog was licking its balls. “I’m Irish, so I was kind of uncomfortable, to say the least.

But I was very, very fond of this man, maybe even madly in love with him in lots of ways, as one can often be with one’s therapist. “And he was the only person who was nice to me then.”

Sinéad O’Connor put details about her time with Dr Morton Schaztman on the record in her autobiography, Rememberings

Dr Schatzman, 86, who has a practice in Croftdown Road, this week told the New Journal how he came to Camden from New York and began working alongside some of the greatest minds in the field in 1967.

Still with a thick New York accent, he stressed that he was bound by strict codes of confidentiality and would never betray any secrets of Ms O’Connor – or any of his client – dead or alive.

“You will absolutely NOT get anything out of me about her,” he said when we approached him about his affectionate mention in Ms O’Connor’s book on Monday. But he did say that he considered Ms O’Connor to be a “powerful person” in social history and was not surprised she had dominated the front pages of so many national newspapers after her death.

The cover of the EP, Gospel Oak

He said he had gone to “some of her concerts” and that he treasured a canvas painting she had made for him in thanks for his work with her.

“She had painted out on the canvas the words of the Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23, in red letters, with blue shadows and a yellow background,” Dr Schatzman said.

Recalling his dog at the time – as so vividly remembered by Ms O’Connor – Dr Schatzman said: “Our dog was named Caius. He was a Roman general. He was a black and white dog who had certain preferences for patients of mine. He could smell my patients from 20 metres away. He would sit in the room with me. Some patients he liked, and some he didn’t. Some patients would say it was unprofessional.”

Dr Schatzman – the yellow poster on the wall behind him was made and given to him by the singer

Dr Schatzman added: “I know what she wrote and it is all on public record in her book. But I do think she liked the dog. “What I will tell you is that one of my sons used to joke that what she was saying there in her book was actually all ‘transference’ – meaning it was actually her wanting to lick my balls. But, of course, that was just a joke.”

He has published books on psychotherapy including Soul Murder: Persecution in the Family and wrote The Story of Ruth which was made into a BBC documentary.

He stressed that he was an American-trained medical doctor and psychiatrist, who had been practising in this country as a non-medical psychotherapist since he arrived in 1967.  “I came to England from New York to work with the Glaswegian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst RD [Ronald David] Laing and the group around him,” he said.

The London Irish Centre held a gathering to remember Ms O’Connor – who went by the name of Shuhada Sadaqat off stage after converting to Islam – on Thursday evening.

Sinéad O’Connor’s famous song, Nothing Compares 2 U and, below, flowers at the London Irish Centre [Simon Lamrock]

She was best known for version of Nothing Compares 2 U but was remembered last week for her campaigning on child abuse covers-ups in the Catholic church. She famously ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on the US show Saturday Night Live.

The singer had also tried to highlight gaps in services for people struggling with mental ill health.