Donald Winnicott Today

This book provides an in-depth analysis of Winnicott's original work and highlights the specifics of his contribution to the concept of early psychic development, which revolutionised the theory and practice of psychoanalysis.

What in Winnicott’s theoretical matrix was truly revolutionary for psychoanalysis? In this book, the editor and contributors provide a rare in-depth analysis of his original work, and highlight the specifics of his contribution to the concept of early psychic development which revolutionised the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. Including re-publications of selected Winnicott papers to set the scene for the themes and explorations in subsequent chapters, the book examines how Winnicott expanded Freud’s work, and how his discourse with Melanie Klein sharpened his thought and clinical innovations. Divided into 3 sections, it covers: Introductory overviews on the evolution of Winnicott’s theoretical matrix Personal perspectives from eminent psychoanalysts on how Winnicott’s originality inspired their own work Further recent examinations and extensions including new findings from the archives Drawing on her own extensive knowledge of Winnicott and the expertise of the distinguished contributors, Jan Abram shows us how Winnicott’s contribution constitutes a major psychoanalytic advance to the concept of subjectivity. As such, it will be an inspiration to experienced psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and all those interested in human nature and emotional development.

In November 2015, The Winnicott Trust held a major conference in London to celebrate the forthcoming publication of the Collected Works of D. W. Winnicott. Most of the papers given then now constitute the chapters in this book. It not only reflects the ongoing contemporary relevance of Winnicott's work, clinical and theoretical, but these chapters demonstrate the aliveness of Winnicott's contribution as present day practitioners and academics use his ideas in their own way. The chapters range from accounts of the early developmental processes and relationships (Roussillon, Murray), the psychoanalytic setting (Bolognini, Bonaminio, Fabozzi, Joyce, Hopkins) creativity and the arts (Wright, Robinson), Winnicott in the outside world (Kahr, Karpf), to the challenge to the psychoanalytic paradigm that Winnicott's ideas constitute (Loparic).

Winnicott is concerned with the springs of imaginative living and of cultural experience in every sense, with whatever determines an individual's capacity to live creatively and to find life worth living.

Winnicott was continually innovating, inventing, and proposing unexpected solutions in his analytical work whenever he noticed that clinical experience "didn't stick to the theory". This approach can make his work seem rather diffuse, with concepts that are sometimes confusing and needing to be clarified. Laura Dethiville has taken on the task of re-evaluating and explaining the principal rudiments of his theories, such as the transitional object, the self, the false self, the importance of environment, and dissociation. She also reveals how Winnicott showed himself to be a forerunner in the care of symptomatic illness in our society, including his innovative treatment of loss of identity, anorexia or bulimia, delinquency, psychosomatic illness, and school disorders. In this book the author has succeeded in avoiding psychoanalytic jargon and, although initially aimed at psychoanalysts, it is also accessible for educators, child carers, paediatricians, and to all those interested in early childhood, the constitution of the psyche, and the constitution of the interpersonal link.

The Clinical Paradigms of Melanie Klein and Donald Winnicott seeks to introduce the distinctive psychoanalytic basic principles of both Klein and Winnicott, to compare and contrast the way in which their concepts evolved, and to show how their different approaches contribute to distinctive psychoanalytic paradigms. The aim is twofold – to introduce and to prompt research. The book consists of five main parts each with two chapters, one each by Abram and Hinshelwood that describes the views of Klein and of Winnicott on 5 chosen issues: Basic principles Early psychic development The role of the external object The psychoanalytic concept of psychic pain Conclusions on divergences and convergences Each of the 5 parts will conclude with a dialogue between the authors on the topic of the chapter. The Clinical Paradigms of Melanie Klein and Donald Winnicott will appeal to who are being introduced to psychoanalytic ideas and especially to both these two schools of British Object Relations.

This edition expands on each original entry predicated on Abram's research discoveries, including archival material, over the past decade.