Psycho-analytic Explorations

As both a theoretician and clinician, Donald Winnicott left a legacy of concepts, ideas and attitudes whose importance continues to grow. In this volume the editors have assembled ninety-two works'”half of the previously unpublished'”that will be of particular interest to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. Psycho-Analytic Explorationswill stand as the sourcebook of Winnicott's thought for those in his own field. This collection spans the years from World War II to Winnicott's death in 1971, and testifies to the wide range of his intellectual interests and clinical experience. It includes previously unpublished critiques of the ideas of Melanie Klein and comments on the work of other psychoanalysts, as well as clinical examples, case studies, and gems of thought extracted from his files. Many of the topics will be of direct usefulness to clinicians: for example, play in the analytic situation, the use of silence; psychosomatic disorder, interpretation in analysis, and seven chapters on psychotherapy with children and adolescents. Other chapters treat such themes as the fate of the transitional object, fear of breakdown, the split-off male and female elements, the basis for self in body. Also included are Winnicott's writing on convulsion therapy and leucotomy; his memoir by his widow, Clare; and, as a postscript, a talk he gave late in life discussing the influences that shaped his work.