Table Of ContentD. W.
Key Figures in Counselling
and Psychotherapy
Series editor: Windy Dryden
The Key Figures in Counselling and Psychotherapy series of
books provides a concise, accessible introduction to the lives,
contributions and influence of the leading innovators whose
theoretical and practical work has had a profound impact
on counselling and psychotherapy. The series includes
comprehensive overviews of:
Sigmund Freud
by Michael Jacobs
Eric Berne
by Ian Stewart
Carl Rogers
by Brian Thorne
Mebnie Klein
by Julia Segal
Fritz Perls
by Petrüska Clarkson and Jennifer Mackewn
Aaron T. Beck
by Marjorie E. Weishaar
Albert Ellis
by Joseph Yankura and Windy Dryden
Joseph Wölpe
by Roger Poppen
George Kelly
by Fay Fransella
D. W. Winnicott
by Michael Jacobs
M i c h a el J a c o bs
SAGE Publications
Los Angeles · London · New Delhi · Singapore
© Michael Jacobs 1995
First published 1995
Reprinted 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission
in writing from the Publishers.
SAGE Publications Ltd.
1 Oliver's Yard
55 City Road
London EC1Y ISP
SAGE Publications Inc
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd.
Bl/11 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area
Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044
India
SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd
33 Pekin Street #02-01
Far East Square
Singapore 048763
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-8039-8595-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-8039-8596-4 (pbk)
Library of Congress catalog card number 95-71212
Typeset by Mayhew Typesetting, Rhayader, Powys
Contents
Preface vii
1 The Life of D. W. Winnicott 1
2 Major Contributions to Theory 27
3 Major Contributions to Practice 63
4 Criticisms and Rebuttals 98
5 The Overall Influence of D. W. Winnicott 121
Select Bibliography of Winnicott's Works 146
References 149
Index 155
Preface
When the series editor offered me the opportunity to write about
D. W. Winnicott, he gave me the chance to learn as much as I had
done in writing about Freud, for the first volume in this series. As
with that book, he provided me with the incentive to read more
widely and more thoroughly in the considerable literature by and
on Winnicott, whom I had up to that point quoted with obvious
relish whenever I wished to find legitimacy for a less than orthodox
view on psychoanalytic theory or practice. As I suggest in the
closing paragraphs (which at this point are to the reader yet a long
way off), I think I may not have been alone in using his name in
this way. When teaching a course at the time of writing the
concluding chapter, I commented to the group upon the informality
with which Winnicott greeted Guntrip at the start of Guntrip's
therapy sessions. The response from one course member illustrated
a second way in which his name is used. She said, 'Ah, but
Winnicott was Winnicott.' In other words, there are unorthodox
ways in psychoanalysis, and that shows how progressive it is, but
they are not for the likes of us. At first I was tempted to respond in
turn that we are all Winnicotts, although I suspect that this would
not have been in the spirit of the man. 'We are all ourselves, and we
might actually need to become ourselves* would possibly have been
a more appropriate reply, had I at the time thought quickly enough.
In fact, as I discovered when I read through the sources on his
life, Winnicott was not as unorthodox as I had imagined. The
picture is a complex one, just as the politics of psychoanalysis is
complicated, and he needs to be understood against that back-
ground. I have discovered the appropriateness of questioning both
him and his ideas - more so than I had at first contemplated. I have
also found a welcome for a critical stance from many of those
whom I have consulted. Those who have studied Winnicott in
depth do not idolize him in the way many of us who have casually
quoted him sometimes appear to do. That has been both a relief for
the writer and an incentive to do him justice.
There were fewer resources than I had at my disposal for my
viii D. W. Winnicott
earlier text on Freud. The books by Davis and Wallbridge (1981)
and by Phillips (1988) provided clear pathways into the many ideas
that Winnicott had generated. Here and there were other texts,
which threw light upon his life, and which examined his theory and
practice from different perspectives. I had at my disposal more of
his papers in published form than I suspect Phillips had, even
though Davis and Wallbridge would have had access to the same
material in original documents and papers. I have also had the
opportunity of meeting people who knew Winnicott personally, or
who have devoted more time to the study of his work than I could
ever have done in the relatively short time involved in writing this
book. Such interviews gave me a taste of what it must be like to
write a biography, especially the delight I experienced in talking
with those who have valued Winnicott in person, or who so
obviously enjoy their contact with his thinking. While hoping that
one day there may be a more comprehensive and critical biography
than has yet appeared, I had in my own less extensive researches
a sense of what fascinating material and memories await such
fashioning.
The limited nature of my knowledge before I embarked upon my
own writing here has meant that I have appreciated, even more
than I did in the preparation of my other books, generous sharing
of information and ideas, advice on sources and refinement of my
sometimes inadequate comprehension. This has come from a
number of people, some of whom I have met for the first time. I am
grateful that this project gave me the opportunity to do so. My
particular thanks go to Professor John Davis, who rightly cherishes
not only both the Winnicotts but also his late wife's superb
contribution to the editing and explanations of Winnicott's papers;
to Professor Windy Dryden who gave me the opening for this
subject, and whose editing of the text has been gentler than I have
experienced before, leading me to hope that my grammar and
sentence construction improve with age; to Nina Farhi and Louise
Exeter - respectively director and general secretary of the Squiggle
Foundation - for all manner of help from start to finish; to Dr
Isobel Hunter-Brown and to the librarian of the Institute of Psycho-
Analysis for searching out and supplying papers and chapters
critical of and influenced by Winnicott; to Dr Peter Lomas for
reading the text from another perspective and ensuring that I
recognized both strengths and shortcomings in Winnicott's writing;
to Dr Lynne Murray and Sheelah Seeley - director and researcher
respectively at the Winnicott Research Unit in Cambridge - for
explaining so fully their studies of as well as their work with
mothers and babies, and for generously allowing me to draw upon
Preface ix
their published and unpublished papers; and at the end of the
alphabet, but in fact always there from A through to Z, my wife
Moira Walker, whose judgement I always value, and whose love
provides the best facilitating environment of all.
Michael Jacobs
Leicester