Hereweare dealing with two papers in one. Ogden's paper shows the development of his own thinking arising from Winnicott's posthumously published 1974 paper, ‘Fear of breakdown’. It is thought the paper was Winnicott's last significant piece of work before his death in 1971, but the editor's footnote to Ogden's paper (p. 206) reminds us that the paper was initially written as a lecture to be given at The Davidson Clinic in Edinburgh in 1963. It was not presented. This is consistent with a postscript to Winnicott's 1964 paper, ‘Classification’, entitled ‘A note on mental breakdown’, ‘Some patients have a fear of mental breakdown. The breakdown that is feared has already been. What is known as the patient's illness is a system of defences organized relative to this past breakdown’ (p. 139). He continues in his 1965 paper, ‘The psychology of madness’: