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Jeremy Holmes takes us with panache on a wide-ranging celebratory tour and critical evalution of his chosen fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy. Eschewing claims to be an expert, he nevertheless offers us a well-crafted exploration of the fields of dyadic, marital and family psychotherapy, inter alia, through the lens of a psychoanalytically oriented psychiatrist. His approach draws on his understanding of contemporary psychoanalysis and developmental psychology, as well as poetry, literature and the philosophy of science: not to mention Marxism and Zen Buddhism.
The fifteen essays were written over a period of twenty years, with earlier versions of three of them having been published in this journal, and all but two of the rest in related British journals. They are gathered in four parts, the largest of which is a collection of six essays on ‘Analytic Psychotherapy’. The title was probably intended to link with what was the Analytic Psychotherapy Section of the UKSCP, but the contents are in no way diminished by the fact that the section is now called the Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Section, and the UKSCP has become the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy. In fact, his final essay entitled ‘Psychotherapy 2000’ not only explores some of the professional dynamics of the UK ‘Analytic Psychotherapy’ scene, but also predicts possible changes in the inter-organisational arena, some of which have since come to pass. His essays in this section endeavour to pose questions or point to a ‘perceived gap’ in psychoanalytic thinking. Clinical illustrations abound, as do clear inferences from selected research and some of the psychoanalytic literature. Not surprisingly, given his own independent, eclectic position (about which he offers a reasoned and balanced exploration), he conveys an impression of an affinity to the ideas of psychoanalysts such as Rycroft, Winnicott, Bollas and Bowlby, while nevertheless exercising the freedom to draw cogently on con