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Peter Giovacchini has assembled a group of independent-thinking psychoanalysts who have combined to give the reader a view of the tactics and techniques of contemporary psychoanalysis. This book proves that we are now able to
free ourselves from what Goldberg (1990) referred to as “The prisonhouse of psychoanalysis.” It uses the work of the British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott (1896-1931) as a model to free us from the rigid constraints of classical psychoanalysis. This book documents how severely disturbed psychiatric patients can be helped by clinicians using new therapeutic techniques as suggested by Winnicott.
This volume is Giovacchini's third in a series examining tactics and techniques in psychoanalytic therapy. The previous two volumes were published in 1972 and 1975. Giovacchini was trained at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis with its tradition of independent psychoanalytic thinking fostered by Franz Alexander.
There are interesting parallels between the careers of Winnicott and Giovacchini. Both men maintained ties with their psychoanalytic institutes despite its internal division into orthodox Freudian and neo-Freudian factions. The British Psychoanalytic Society divided into Freudians, Kleinians, and a middle group. Winnicott was a member of the middle group but carefully remained on good terms with the other two groups. The Chicago Psychoanalytic Society, under Franz Alexander's leadership, was divided between the conservative classical Freudians and the liberal neo-Freudians. They were further polarized by the followers of Kohut and Kernberg. Giovacchini remained a liberal member of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society. Winnicott provided a role model for Giovacchini.
In the preface Giovacchini writes that psychoanalysis is unique among sciences in having leaders, such as Freud or Klein, with personal followers. Psychoanalysts become disciples of a leader rather than critically examining each leader's concepts and becoming committed to the best.