Introduction to Volume 5

Volume 5 concerns Winnicott’s writing at the height of his career, between 1955-1959, in which his thinking and his personal and professional life are put into a broad historical context, from Winnicott’s medical education and discovery of Freud to his double career in paediatrics and psychoanalysis. The introduction to this volume covers this period of great social and political change, including discussion of papers and letters relating to the conflicts within the British psychoanalytic world, in particular with Melanie Klein (whose monograph Envy and Gratitude was published in this period), as well as John Bowlby and Anna Freud. A range of papers, reflecting the wide scope of his audiences during this period, are discussed, including ‘The Anti-Social Tendency’, ‘Primary Maternal Preoccupation’, ‘The Capacity to be Alone’, and the book publication of ‘Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena’.

A Clinical Approach to Family Problems

In this essay, Winnicott writes of the importance of the family as a localized element in a society, an element orientated to the task of dealing with the arrival of a new individual. Behind the idea of the family, is the recognition of the individual small child’s initial need of a simplified version of society, used for the purposes of essential emotional growth. Winnicott sees maturity as the growth of the individual in relation to society appropriate to the age of the child, and resulting eventually in the individual’s capacity to identify with society without too great a sacrifice of individual impulse. He also asserts that parents know more about their children’s needs than society does, because the parents are immediately involved.

Review: Going to Hospital with Mother

In this review of James Robertson’s second film, Winnicott praises the film’s ability to show a realistic presentation of a mother’s relationship with her sick child, which benefits not only the child and the mother, but also sisters, nurses and doctors. He goes on to note the great contribution Robertson’s first film, A Two-Year-Old Goes to Hospital, made to nursing practice and social work.

Letter to Elliot Jaques

In this letter to Elliot Jaques, Winnicott congratulates Jaques on his BPAS presentation of the previous night and touches on the difference between doing an analysis and writing a paper.

Casework with Mentally Ill Children

Winnicott describes his casework with children who are mentally ill, as largely a problem-solving process. He gives various examples. He sees the analyst as working with the parents and the teachers, sometimes the psychiatric socialworker in such work and the management of the child.

Letter to Herman Gijsbert van der Waals

In this letter to Herman Gijsbert van der Waals, Winnicott gives a positive reference for the employment application of David Malan for a post in Topeka, Kansas, regretting that he (Winnicott) was unable to offer proper facilities for the work that Dr Malan potentially could do.

Letter to Arthur J. Metcalfe

In this letter to Arthur J. Metcalf in Sydney, Australia, Winnicott gives a positive reference for the employment application of Thomas Stapleton, a colleague from St Mary’s Hospital.

Letter to Paul Halmos

In this letter to Paul Halmos, Winnicott agrees to give a lecture at the University College of North Staffordshire, and says he is looking forward to a discussion of the function of nursery schools, day nurseries and nannies.

Letter to The Times

In this letter from Winnicott to The Times newspaper, he applauds the publication of a letter on the need for nursery schools, which he says are supported by all child psychiatrists.

Review: Envy and Gratitude

In this review of Melanie Klein’s Envy and Gratitude, Winnicott summarises Klein’s theories of the origin of envy, oral sadism and the emotional development of the infant and small child. He describes how, in Klein’s view, envy would then be a by-product of the developing mother-infant relationship and of the ego organisation in the infant.