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As some of the psychoanalytic world still struggles to give due weight to psychosocial factors in our patients' difficulties, Rustin presents us with both a straightforwardly sensible and a subtle awareness of the complexity of the interactions between a child's internal world and their external world. As I embarked on reading this selection of past papers by Margaret Rustin, I set about it in the way I have often used in book reviews - copying particularly inspiring or insightful phrases into a document so I could refer to them or quote them in the review to come. Finding a Way to the Child: Selected Clinical Papers 1983-2021 Margaret Rustin. [Extracted from the article]

Winnicott's unique contributions to a psychoanalytic theory of depression are not as familiar as Freud and Klein's writings. I concentrate on six areas: depression as a developmental achievement which denotes unit status; the role of destruction which arises from love (as opposed to hate which for Winnicott is a more mature affect); the importance of contributing‐in and the response of the (m)other in recovery from depression; the startling idea that the patient seeks out the analyst's depression; some thoughts on the differences between Winnicott and Freud and Klein; and lastly, the effect of depression on the development of self, creativity and the capacity to play. Winnicott does not shirk the darker side of being human, but at the same time he offers us a hopeful picture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts from the thought that we cannot take for granted that a society's highest values will survive in the long term as effective motivators within that society. By 'highest values' I mean values such as justice, concern for members of weak and minority groups, and respect for promises and for the attempt to speak truthfully - values that apply at the highest level of generality. If they are to survive and to be effective, two things may be necessary: firstly, unpredictable 'epiphanic' moments in which the power of these values is emotionally experienced by individuals, and secondly, institutions and a vocabulary in which these values can be remembered, discussed and affirmed in emotionally and imaginatively impactful ways. I shall suggest, with reference in particular to the thought of Emmanuel Levinas and Ronald Dworkin, that the second of these factors, the remembering and affirmation of values, marks out the crucial, perhaps even the irreplaceable, contribution of a 'religion' to a society. The failure, within psychoanalysis and also more widely, to appreciate the working of this function in a society over generations may mean that the consequences of 'growing out of religion' (Winnicott) have not yet been adequately recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

abstract Isabel Menzies Lyth's seminal paper on social systems as a defence against anxiety is so well known and frequently cited that it risks acquiring mythic or legendary status. But what explains its phenomenal influence? In this contribution I suggest that it is a model example of the psychoanalytic case study, deriving its power from a deep engagement with organizational particularities as a basis for general theorizing. Its continued influence depends upon the way in which it is used to conceptualize new organizational experiences. An example from an institutional observation undertaken as part of an advanced social work training at the Tavistock illustrates this. Institutional observation is one of a range of non-clinical psychoanalytically informed methods of training at the Tavistock, and in the final part of the paper I discuss new applications of Menzies Lyth's work that aim to illuminate the irrational forces shaping modern social policy. Death and anxieties about death emerge as a subtext of the present paper, perhaps reflecting the fact that it was prepared as part of a memorial conference to Menzies Lyth herself, and also that the paper taught us to think better about death as an aspect of organizational experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My intervention briefly addresses the long, complex debate on technical and educational issues within British psychoanalysis during the late 1930s and 1940s. I hope to show that some of the problems discussed and the resolutions proposed by the Training Committee of the British Society during the years of the Controversies which we are commemorating are still a source of food for thought today, in spite of the fact that they belong to a specific past. I stress the importance of Strachey's ideas about an open psychoanalytic forum. This would not be the solution to all our problems, as crises and dissent are an inevitable part of the development of our discipline. However, the more transparent and the more informed we are about our past, and about the whole internal history of our discipline, including the wider cultural, scientific and socio-political context within which psychoanalysis developed and is developing, the better chance we have of understanding our present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the work of a peer supervision group engaged in simultaneous research and clinical supervision. During an 18‐month period, the group met to discuss 22 individual treatments of people diagnosed with psychosomatic disorders to identify common patterns of resistance and to assist therapists to effectively manage resistance. The aim of the present study was to identify and better understand psychological challenges the group experienced during this research process and its impact on their capacity to work effectively in their tasks. Supervision meetings were recorded and two types of qualitative analyses, derived from the work of Pichon‐Rivière and Bion, were performed to study the group work and processes. Analysis showed fluctuations and compromise formations between the tendency to work objectively and to regress during critical periods of the research process. Factors that pulled the group in both directions are identified and discussed. We believe many of the processes observed in this study are applicable to other peer supervision groups. An understanding of such group processes is likely to enhance group work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a great privilege to publish Estela Welldon's remarkable meditation on living and dying, a paper she has worked on over many years. The Estela Welldon Prize will complement our established Rozsika Parker Prize, which, as readers know, focuses on a critical engagement with questions of creativity in clinical or applied analytic work. Please contact Joan Fogel and Sue Hirst, BJP Editorial Boardjoan@fogel.co.ukhirstsuem@gmail.com ESTELA WELLDON PRIZE The I British Journal of Psychotherapy i is delighted to announce the establishment of the Estela Welldon Prize. [Extracted from the article]

In his paper 'Communicating and not communicating leading to a study of certain opposites' (1963), Donald Winnicott suggests that there is a silent, non‐communicating area of experience at the core of the self. Poetic expression takes a prominent role in the text. In this article, I concentrate on the aesthetic dimension of Winnicott's text and use it to explore the role of aesthetic experience in the development of self‐experience. I suggest that the paper's aesthetic dimension—form, quality and structure—expresses essential characteristics of the core of the self and the mature self's communication with it. I furthermore suggest that Winnicott, by use of poetic expression, offers the idea that the core, defined here as pre‐reflective experience, can be approached through aesthetic means. Building on George Hagman and Giuseppe Civitarese, I argue that aesthetic experience creates a bridge between pre‐reflective and reflective aspects of self‐experience and thus contributes to the integration of self. I suggest that forming a connection with the core can be seen as an aesthetic act where the intention is not to transform pre‐reflective experience into reflective. Since aesthetic experience includes reflection, the effort to represent the core of the self remains paradoxical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview by email, Ann Scott, Editor‐in‐Chief of the British Journal of Psychotherapy from 2009 to 2022, is in conversation with Brett Kahr, responding to questions put to her by him and the Journal's Editorial Board. The interview focuses on Scott's background and its influence on her work; her early role at Free Association Books and her role as Deputy Editor of the BJP. She identifies papers from the Journal, on her watch as Editor‐in‐Chief, that have resonated particularly powerfully for her, commenting that all convey a sense of urgency and immediacy. She is asked to comment on the relationship between clinical and research approaches; current debates about informed consent; the Journal's title; the impact of online as well as print publication; whether published topics have changed over time; and the Journal's international standing. She describes the editorial principles that have governed her approach to the editorship, drawing on work by Britton, Turquet, Rey and Gabbard. She comments on some challenges she has faced as an editor, and shares the highlights of her tenure. Lastly, she is asked whether the editorship has impacted on her clinical practice, whether she has any regrets, and how she would like to be remembered in relation to her editorial work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence is a prevalent public health concern, affecting millions worldwide. The presence of domestic violence affecting women and couples experiencing homelessness both continue to be underreported areas of clinical work and commissioning within the sector. This paper explores the difficulties of trying to house and contain unhoused couples with reference to the psychoanalytic ideas of attachment and the claustro‐agoraphobic dilemma. The paper argues that more wrap‐around support, such as temporary alternative housing options, are required to manage instances of domestic abuse and instances of attachment anxiety. Flexible options are also required to account for the likelihood that a couple may return to the streets when perpetrators are evicted based upon the implementation of blanket policies. The paper also attempts to offer some nuance into the complexities of relational dynamics, which are amplified by two unhoused minds coming into intimate contact with one another in front of a professional audience. The paper concludes with drawing attention to the lack of therapeutic support and lack of appetite to commission this to enable couples to explore the roles each partner can play when enmeshed in destructive forms of relating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a Lacanian theory of shame linked to the era of Lacan's work starting with Seminar X and the invention of the object a. From a Lacanian perspective, shame is not evoked by the exposure of a deficit, but rather by the exposure and witnessing of the divided subject's constitutive lack. This paper proposes that the affect of shame is an index pointing to the divided subject's structural lack when it is exposed and witnessed by object a instantiated as the gaze of the scopic drive and the voice of the invocatory drive. Since shame can freeze speech as well as provoke flight from the analytic work, we suggest that it is helpful for the clinician to understand how the structure of shame manifests in the patient's speech and in the transference. Clinical examples are given throughout. The paper concludes with a case discussion of Lacanian analytic work with a female patient confronted with multiple existential dilemmas that evoked shame in relationship to her body, sexuality and death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many individuals who have been through transition struggle to obtain the necessary medical and psychological support. This paper explores the importance of psychological support for post‐transition individuals. In my experience, there is a subgroup of patients who struggle to come to terms with life post‐transition, particularly the losses involved. They remain stuck in the mourning process. There is a loss of fantasies regarding an ideal transition, and the gap between the hoped‐for transition outcomes and the post‐transition reality can be painfully large. In addition, issues that the transition was meant to address remain in some form for some people, and they may also be haunted by misgivings about how the transition occurred. This paper employs a heavily anonymised composite case to illustrate and elaborate on how these issues emerged and were dealt with in the context of a psychotherapeutic process. Working through issues that led to transition and grievances about perceived and actual failures in care from the past allowed the patient to mourn the loss of her pre‐transition image. The patient was able to come to terms with the reality of her transfer from male to trans‐female and her body and life post‐transition and to shift from a preoccupation with the past to move on with her life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper was stimulated by the recent paper by Charlotte Wynn Parry and Diana Birkett (1996) in which the authors suggest that the idea of the working alliance has dropped out of analytic discourse and they suggest that it be brought back. In this paper I suggest that, rather than having dropped out, the idea of the working alliance has some inherent difficulties and also that it arises in relation to a particular view of the mind and mental functioning and correspondingly of the nature of the therapeutic process. Since we do not always distinguish clearly enough between these different models there is room for confusion. This paper does not aim to resolve confusion but to make some suggestions about why some of the confusions arise in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students or qualified clinicians are invited to submit original papers on adult, child, couple, or group psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, on clinical, theoretical, applied or research topics. The British Journal of Psychotherapy's Prize established in 2013 in memory of Rozsika Parker focuses on a critical engagement with questions of creativity. The Prize has two entry routes: a Student Path and a Post-Qualification Path. [Extracted from the article]

The attainment of unit status or I AM is a crucial stage in Winnicott's theory of development and arguably ranks amongst Winnicott's more well known ideas, such as transitional object, true and false self, and primary maternal preoccupation. Using Winnicott's 1968 paper 'Sum, I am', the author traces the dangers inherent in attaining I AM and what might hamper this achievement, the personal significance of numbers and divisibility, and how this links with his subsequent ideas on monotheism and a radical revision of Freud's dual drive theory. Returning to the 'Sum, I am' paper, the author briefly explores the importance Winnicott places on play in pedagogy and the significance of an intermediate space followed by Winnicott's thoughts about death, dissociation, and the importance of a mouse! Four clinical examples are used to illustrate difficulties in achieving I AM. Finally, the author suggests the spatula game in 'Observation of infants in a set situation' published over a quarter of a century earlier is a prime example of an I AM experience, with a beginning, middle and end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National research studies report elevated suicide rates amongst gay men, particularly those under the age of 26. Much of the current health and psychiatric literature on suicide tends to focus on the external world impacting on the suicidal individual. Although valuable, it is not enough to understand the specific circumstances that could contribute to gay men's suicidality. This paper focuses on the relationship between the external and internal dynamics at play in the suicidality of gay men, with particular emphasis on the development, influences, and nature of a cruel and punishing superego. The author provides some contemporary psychoanalytic theories on same‐sex desire as a useful framework to understand minority sexuality. Some influential classic and contemporary psychoanalytic theories regarding suicidality and the development and character of a cruel and punishing superego are presented. The concept of internalized homophobia and the impact of heteronormative masculinity on the gay man's psyche are explored as drivers for suicidality. A composite case study from clinical experience with suicidal gay men in an NHS setting is presented to illuminate the discussion. This paper could add new perspectives and important dialogue for psychoanalytic psychotherapists working with this patient population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matricide is suggested as an important counterpart to the traditional oedipal manifestations of patricide. This paper turns to The Oresteia to examine its murderous protagonists and the meaning of the drive to eliminate mothers. A daughter may enact unconscious matricidal wishes in order to separate from an ambivalent tie to her mother, by excising femininity and femaleness in herself. The author explores early bisexual pulls that can emanate from primal scene identifications. The capacity to relinquish the option to have all options is brought in as a ubiquitous and painful developmental move away from having and being all sexes. Father's role as crucial in the sexual development of daughters, including Freud's role in relation to his daughter Anna, is considered and mourning is linked to Klein's Depressive Position. The author includes clinical material of two children from the literature and draws on interviews conducted with trans men to reflect on these struggles. The paper explores early awareness of the difference between the sexes and argues that this can fuel a protest for daughters, sometimes manifesting as a 'no‐mother' or matricidal state of mind. If these wishes or phantasies remain unmourned, they can at times lead to a concrete flight from femininity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the three versions of Winnicott's most well known paper 'Transitional objects and transitional phenomena' published in the Collected Works of Donald Winnicott (2016) and traces the development of his ideas over a 20‐year period. It describes the changes in emphasis, the early inclusion and later exclusion of references from child therapy, and notes other omissions that contribute to a change of emphasis. It discusses the addition of two clinical cases in the text of the final version, which together with the introduction of the notion of 'paradox', demonstrate the shifts in Winnicott's own thinking following on extensive clinical experience and lively debate. The article argues for a different assessment of the meanings of the transitional object and the much more extended interest in transitional phenomena that emerges in line with Winnicott's own claim that Playing and Reality, his last book published posthumously, taken as a whole, constitutes a discussion of the significant theoretical and clinical implications of attention to transitionality and transitional phenomena as proposing a shift in the understanding of the analytic session, the analytic process and what analysis does. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dr Estela V. Welldon worked for 40 years at the Portman Clinic in London as Consultant Psychiatrist and Consultant Psychotherapist. As this will be the first time the paper has been published, if successful in the competition, authors should indicate whether the paper has had an institutional distribution, and confirm that the paper has not been published, is not due for forthcoming publication, and is not currently under consideration for publication, in either journal or book form. The Prize, which is co-sponsored by the BJP and the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy, will be awarded annually to the author of a paper which contributes to our understanding of the shadow side of human nature - the ugly side, or what we might previously have called the "dark side" of humanity. [Extracted from the article]

In this paper I consider the experiences around the time boundary of therapeutic sessions of both therapists and patients working remotely during the pandemic. I discuss the precision of electronic time and the different dynamics around the beginning of sessions. The business of arriving, whether early, on time or late, has different drivers and meanings in the online world. I consider how difficult it is to take up these dynamics adequately when faced with the real uncertainties of internet connections. Communications between therapist and patient around time boundaries have also presented new challenges, and the way sessions end is very different. The experience of time within sessions is altered, and sessions are no longer bracketed with the journey to and from the consulting room. The dynamics around power and vulnerability are different and the management of time boundaries bring these dynamics vividly to life. The paper closes with some practical considerations around remote working as this is likely to be a part of our practice even after the pandemic is finally over. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Prize has two entry routes: a Student Path and a Post-Qualification Path. The Student Path is open to students on an I initial i psychotherapy or clinical psychology training leading to a clinical qualification, who are either currently in training or who have qualified within the past 12 months; and to students on university courses in psychoanalytic studies, and on university courses where psychoanalysis is a significant component. A student paper may have been submitted as part of a course requirement, if this is acceptable to the student's course, but the paper should be revised as need be to meet the criteria of this Prize, including length. [Extracted from the article]

The Prize has two entry routes: a Student Path and a Post-Qualification Path. The Student Path is open to students on an I initial i psychotherapy or clinical psychology training leading to a clinical qualification, who are either currently in training or who have qualified within the past 12 months; and to students on university courses in psychoanalytic studies, and on university courses where psychoanalysis is a significant component. A student paper may have been submitted as part of a course requirement, if this is acceptable to the student's course, but the paper should be revised as need be to meet the criteria of this Prize, including length. [Extracted from the article]

The author has given an account of a training therapy with a patient who had a very tenuous start in life, having spent three months in an incubator in a neonatal unit, where she suffered life‐threatening conditions and complications. Various difficulties, which can be particularly relevant to a training therapy, are described – in particular narcissistic issues on the part of the therapist, such as the wish for the trainee's success and the consequent pride in what can feel like a joint achievement. However, issues of identification and envy can also be very relevant to this particular work and some clinical examples have been cited. Furthermore, the author has highlighted the particular difficulties of publishing clinical material regarding patients, especially so with reference to training patients, where ethical issues require special consideration. The purpose of this paper lies in an effort to identify the rewards and pitfalls of working intensively with a trainee who is undergoing a psycho‐dynamically based training. It also explores the complexities in publication, even when the patient specifically requests to be written about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In introducing Sally Arthur's paper, I will try to first of all share my thoughts about Gemma (the observed baby) and her family, and then comment on what I see as the tasks of infant observation and how these relate to the process of becoming a psychotherapist. Indeed in thinking about the importance of siblings we should note the extract Sally gives of Gemma at 25 weeks when she, following some rough treatment from her brother, turns her attention to the beads. Sally reports that 'At 25 weeks Helen has disconnected from her and chats to me about a difficult experience, Gemma squeezes her breast hard, and regains her attention'. [Extracted from the article]

The article seeks the papers from various authors on different topics including adult, child, couple, or group psychotherapy or psychoanalysis for which the Rozsika Parker Prize 2018 will be given to the winner along with the information on the guidelines for the authors and the last date for the submission of papers.

This paper explores insight and the development of the thinking voice in the psychoanalytic process. It begins with music and images, narrating an important Australian historical event. The composers have created a dreaming space, and for this paper, a metaphor for the analytic space and the creative process. At once physical, aural and visual, it also exists within and reflects the patient's and analyst's shared historical and cultural frame. It is a liminal space, for exploration, crossing, and a product of the alchemy created between patient and analyst. Pickering's (2016) and Grier's (2019) consideration of musicality as an essential part of the analytic experience assists recognition of the multidimensional nature of the space created between patient and analyst. Ferro and Civitarese's (2015) conceptualization of the space where patient and analyst dream one another, and Baranger and Baranger's (2008) discussion of the bi personal field are pertinent here. Symington's idea of insight as an essential 'thing in itself', within the individual patient helps articulation of insight as a product of an internalized linking, or parental intercourse, enabling movement to a separate third position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult sulking is an emotional state and behaviour, characterized by misery and sometimes hostility, that occurs within intimate relationships. A remnant of unmet needs in infancy, it is enacted when omnipotence, grandiosity and feelings of entitlement are threatened. Sulking signals the sulker's feelings of dependency and powerlessness in relation to a significant other while defending against feared consequences of self‐assertion. As protest, appeal or coercion, sulking may be the recourse of any individual when words fail or are refused. This paper examines sulking in couple relationships because sulking is intrinsically interpersonal: a sulker requires someone to sulk at or to. While the sulker overtly cold‐shoulders the other, emotionally he is far from indifferent to the other's response. Sulking sits on a narcissistic continuum, with relatively benign moodiness at one end and coercive control at the other. Section 1 of this paper explores sulking firstly in childhood and then in adult relationships, together with the way spatial metaphors – the cave and tent – may assist the clinician's understanding of the sulker's self‐positioning in relation to his object. Sulking's purposive aspects are also considered. In Section 2, psychic agony is discussed to demonstrate how some people may become prisoners of their own or the other's sulking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

James Strachey published his seminal paper on the nature of therapeutic action in 1934 in which he introduced his ideas on the mutative interpretation. He saw interpretation as the cornerstone of the psychoanalytic method. Since then, there has been a great deal of work looking at the essential nature of the interpretation and how it can promote change. By the1960s, Loewald and others were discussing how interpretation needed to incorporate new psychoanalytic thinking, particularly in the area of object relations. As the intersubjectivity of the psychoanalytic encounter gained more prominence, the use of the structural interpretation decreased. The author suggests that there is still need for further work on how interpretation can promote change. Using theoretical ideas and clinical examples, the paper concludes that the mutative interpretation continues to offer something potentially transformative, but that the technique has to take account of relational aspects of the treatment and the developmental issues of the patient. However, the clinician's relationship with the ideas about a mutative interpretation can also affect the clinician's ability to use it to a therapeutic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In clinical practice, there is a well‐established developmental path from beginner to post‐qualification and on to some form of expertise or mastery. In this paper, I explore whether the outline of a similar pathway could be mapped out for analytic supervision. For the clinician, a key element in becoming more competent and skilled is the capacity to reflect on one's work and learn from experience. To do that the clinician learns to develop a form of internal conversation which orients them to the work. I argue that an important developmental step for the supervisor is to acquire a similar capacity, which I call the supervisor's internal monologue. In this paper, I illustrate what I mean by the supervisor's internal monologue and discuss some of its functions and characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the conditions for the development of creativity and the possible obstacles along the way. It explores conscious and unconscious mechanisms which either impede or support this process. Creativity is seen as a special case of relationships between internal and external objects, with some aspects being more consistent and others being more fluid throughout an individual's life. This paper is based on the clinical experience of psychodynamic work with clients whose psychological predicaments related to creativity impoverished different areas of their lives. The non‐exhaustive list of factors to be considered when working with those clients includes a blocked epistemophilic instinct, excessively repressed aggression, and strong negative projections. A harsh superego opposing a weak 'internal supporter' combined with an internalised negative parental attitude to their own creativity constitutes a powerful unconscious force which prevents it from blossoming. A high level of basic anxiety, a low degree of omnipotence, and the release of endorphins in response to suffering contribute to these difficulties. Insufficient capacity to sublimate emotions and an inability to free associate prevent clients from finding the links between ideas born in the mind and their expression that could be accessed by others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]