Winnicott, D. W. (Donald Woods), 1896-1971--Correspondence, Psychoanalysts--Great Britain--Correspondence, Psychoanalysis, Child psychiatry, Personality Development--correspondence, Psychoanalytic Theory--correspondence 

The collected letters of Donald Winnicott, a central figure in British psychoanalysis in the first post-Freud generation. They provide a vivid picture of Winnicott's ideas and personality. Reissued 1999. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. Editorial Reviews Review D. W. Winnicott was a central figure in British psychoanalysis in the generation following Freud. Suspicious of dogma and deeply committed to the value of his own observations, he maintained a highly personal therapeutic and theoretical style. His common sense, humour, warmth, and individualism made him resemble an old-fashioned family doctor, while at the same time his soaring intellect addressed the most fundamental matters of the mind.Winnicott was a skilled writer with a gift for making his ideas accessible to general readers as well as professionals. He was also a prolific correspondent. This selection of his letters - to colleagues, to the press, and to people who wrote to him about their problems - displays his lively style as well as his characteristic outspokenness and spontaneity.A pediatrician before he became a psychoanalyst, Winnicott was much concerned with the nature of relationships, beginning with that of mother and infant. His terms "good enough mother" and "ordinary devoted mother" express his convictions that parents do not have to meet standards of perfection to raise psychologically healthy children. His most famous concept is that of "transitional object", the toy or blanket to which a baby becomes deeply attached; he considered such objects important to the development of play, creativity, and cultural life in general.Winnicott's writings have become more and more influential over the years. His letters, published here, command immediate attention. Together with an insightful introduction by F. Robert Rodman, who sketches Winnicott's life and traces the development of his ideas, they provide a vivid picture of the thought and personality of a man who has taught us much about our deepest selves. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. About the Author Winnicott, pediatrician, child psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, has had an immense influence in the fields of both child development and psychoanalysis. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.