Home Is Where We Start From: Essays by a Psychoanalyst [Paperback]

D. W. Winnicott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 1990

One of the most gifted and creative psychoanalysts of his generation, D. W. Winnicott made lasting contributions to our understanding of the minds of children.

His ideas have influenced the diverse psychoanalytic schools of Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, and Hans Kohut. But his reach extends far beyond professional circles: his talks to general audiences over the years won him enormous numbers of followers among parents and teachers who have found his observations rich in penetrating insight.

This collection brings together many of Winnicott's most important pieces, including previously unpublished talks and several essays from books and journals now difficult to obtain. They range widely in topic—from "The Concept of a Healthy Individual" and "The Value of Depression" to "Delinquency as a Sign of Hope"—and elucidate some of Winnicott's seminal ideas, such as the "transitional object" and the concept of false self. All convey Winnicott's vision of the ways in which the developing self interacts with the family and the larger society.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Among the best loved of modern psychoanalysts and perhaps most accessible of Britain's object relations school was Winnicott, a pediatrician turned psychoanalyst. The pieces in this collection (most previously unpublished and derived from talks to nonpsychiatrists) illustrate the scope of his concerns, the simplicity of his ideas about complex matters, and his inspired metaphorical linking of concepts. The essays range widelyfrom the healthy individual and family to a lovely piece on the "value of depression" and to some of his more basic concepts about the false self and the transitional object. The absence of jargon makes this work particularly inviting for laypersons. More informed readers may object to the lack of scholarly notes and to some of more "creative" intuitive leaps, but will soon be drawn in by Winnicott's many profound insights. Paul Hymowitz, Psychiatry Dept . , Cornell Medical Ctr.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

D.W. Winnicott (1896-1971) was the first paediatrician in Britain to train as a psychoanalyst. In over forty years of clinical practice at the Paddington Green Children's Hospital, he brought unprecedented skill to the relatively new discipline of the psychoanalysis of children. His work is increasingly being regarded as one of the most influential contributions to psychoanalysis since Freud. His wife, Clare, was a renowned social worker. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (June 17, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393306674
• ISBN-13: 978-0393306675
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Papers of a great humane thinker, August 3, 2000

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Home Is Where We Start From: Essays by a Psychoanalyst (Paperback)

These essays were collected and published posthumously, by Winnicott's widow, Clare, and colleagues. British pediatrician, humanitarian, and ground-breaking psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott died in 1971, having made a nearly immeasurable contribution to the fields of psychoanalysis and child psychology. In this volume, as with his other writings, his ideas are deep, reverential and respectful, and often somewhat complex, and at the same time, his presentation is utterly simple and straightforward. The reader is fully engaged, as a result of Winnicott's incredible knack for connecting with his audience.

The lively and interesting papers comprising this utterly accessible collection were written over a wide span of time - three decades or more. The selections are varied, and have been separated for readerly convenience into several sections: "Health and Illness," "The Family," and, finally, "Reflections on Society." Some were written in order to be presented at meetings of the medical and/or psychoanalytic community; others, to various civic, political, and other groups (The Progressive League, The Liberal Magazine, The Borstal Assistant Governors' Conference, etc.)

The collection is various and interesting for its content but also for - not in spite of - its grab-bag feel. Winnicott was comfortable with his listeners, and never afraid to speak simply, clearly, and with his trademark empathy intact. In fact, that empathy was at the core of his work. There's a great variety in it, too. "The Price of Disregarding Psychoanalytic Research," a talk given in 1965, details the importance of his philosophy. ("The link between poetic truth and scientific truth is surely in the person, in you and me.") Essays such as the 1963 "The Value of Depression" ("Always, depression implies ego strength...") and the 1967 "Delinquency as a Sign of Hope" ("the antisocial tendency is linked inherently with deprivation" ) show Winnicott at his very best. And the playful and kind 1969 "The Pill and the Moon" - written for an address to the Progressive League in the 1960's - is wonderful.

Some of these hopeful and kindhearted essays show their age, but in a welcome and lovely way, and therefore each is well worth reading and thinking about.

1 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a bit on the strange side, October 4, 2009

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vera (groningen) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Home Is Where We Start From: Essays by a Psychoanalyst (Paperback)

i am not so sure that winnicott would have published the transcripts and texts included in the book - at least not in that form... probably a man with charisma, his lectures must have been very attractive but when you read the printed text, obviously unrevised - hmmm
and gee, i'm not a fan of feminists, but the allegations he makes on the poor women. it's funny at times but, let's face it, weather we like them or not, women can vote thanks to feminists...