Analysis on Demand

In his book The Piggle, Winnicott describes a psychoanalytic process that began when his young patient was 2½ years old. He saw her for 15 sessions over a period of about 2½ years and he called this type of setting ‘psychoanalysis on demand’. He concluded that a child should either have analysis as daily sessions or be seen on demand. For an analysis ‘on demand’, the young patient needs a high capacity for continuity and linking to bridge the long intervals between sessions. The author examines in relation to the material of Winnicott's creative case presentation how this capacity was communicated to Winnicott by the small child (a kind of primary symbolization) and how these mostly preverbal communications were ‘heard’ (or not) by Winnicott.
Source: British Journal of Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: IPA Congress, Boston 2015: A Winnicott for Present and Future ‐ Theory, Practice, Diversity Source Type: research