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Jill and David Scharff's edited collection, The Legacy of Fairbairn and Sutherland, reminds the wider intellectual world of Scotland's contribution to object relations psychoanalysis. Overshadowed by R. D. Laing's brilliant rise and infamous fall, and have remained figures of interest mainly within psychoanalytic circles. Yet they, along with fellow Scots such as , created their own revolution within psychoanalysis.
The Legacy of Fairbairn and Sutherland presents almost thirty essays and is divided into two sections. The first and significantly larger section deals with Fairbairn (reflecting his greater importance and originality); the second concentrates on Sutherland and his development of Fairbairn's work. To summarize the topics addressed by the contributors to this volume is almost impossible given the enormous range of ideas and approaches. Although the collection is subtitled “Psychotherapeutic Applications,” it is far from a collection of case studies. These do form a considerable part of the volume, and readers will find applications of object relations theory to the treatment of trauma, sexually abused children, emotionally abused women, hysteria, disturbed families, and so forth. But there are also many essays on topics such as the reception of Fairbairn's work in continental Europe, similarities and contrasts with other psychoanalytic models, the intellectual context of object relations, and the potential for synthesis into a grander “personal relations theory.”
With such a large number of essays, there are inevitably problems of repetition and variation in quality. But sometimes repetition and overlap are welcome, particularly when a complex theoretical framework is being introduced. The variety of