Donald W. Winnicott: A New Approach

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. It is also of course aimed at new parents, who will find in the book pointers on how to communicate with their newborn baby.

Table of Contents:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSABOUT THE AUTHORINTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE Winnicott todayCHAPTER TWO The man and his life CHAPTER THREE Transitional objects and transitional phenomenaCHAPTER FOUR The importance of the environmentCHAPTER FIVE The baby is a personCHAPTER SIX The self CHAPTER SEVEN The false selfCHAPTER EIGHT Psycho-somatic illness and communication CHAPTER NINE Splitting and dissociated elementsCONCLUSION REFERENCES INDEX

About the Author :
Laura Dethiville is a psychoanalyst and a full member and vice-president of the Societe de Psychanalyse Freudienne. She has been running a seminar on Winnicott for over fifteen years, and has written two books, 'D.W.Winnicott: Une nouvelle approche', which has been translated into Portuguese, Chinese, Italian and English, and 'La Clinique de Winnicott', both published by Editions Campagne-Premiere. She has also written numerous papers and has participated in many collected works.

Review :
'In this book, Laura Dethiville discusses the meaning and importance of many of Winnicott's concepts in a lucid and instructive style, allowing us to reconsider the meanings we have tended to follow when reading his writings. Such key terms as the "good enough mother", "hate (in the transference)", and "killing (the object)" are put under the microscope, and Dethiville demonstrates how it is possible to read Winnicott in many different ways. Sometimes, as she herself observes, the understanding of his texts can be "a real puzzle", especially if his work is interpreted literally, as if an academic text: besides being a gifted paediatrician and psychoanalyst he was, after all, a graphic and musical artist, and such gifts significantly influenced his use of words. We have to thank Laura Dethiville for this unique opportunity of rediscovering the richness of Winnicott's work and for showing how his teachings are being applied by his present-day followers.'- Abrahao Brafman, psychoanalyst, author of Fostering Independence: Helping and Caring in Psychodynamic Therapies'The reading of Laura Dethiville's book has met my expectations for an enriching and lively introduction to Winnicott, the man and his work. Her use of ordinary language brings a touch of freshness to her book. I definitely recommend it.'- Marcel Hudon, MD, Professeur Adjoint de Clinique au Departement de psychiatrie de la faculte de Medecine de l'Universite de Montreal and member of the Societe Psychanalytique de Montreal (affiliated with the Societe Canadienne de Psychanalyse)'Winnicott refused to become a thought authority. He refused to be put in place of the master, and looked for disagreement with a passion, to open unto new perspectives, and in that participated in this troubling movement without which psychoanalysis ceases to be alive. Laura Dethiville's work, by its readibility, gives a greater coherence and better organisation to an ensemble of complex concepts. She strives to ward against all psychological drifts to which it might lead.'- Michel Plon, psychoanalyst member of the editorial board of La Quinzaine Litteraire, co-author of Dictionnaire de la Psychanalyse