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Chris Brogan's engaging paper makes a compelling case in acknowledging Winnicott's unique contribution to psychoanalysis. He describes how Winnicott's approach differs from other psychoanalysts, particularly Freud and Klein, and quotes from Ogden and others in support of his claim. As Winnicott has a significant place in the training and practice of many Jungian analysts and psychotherapists, I will introduce some theoretical links between the work of Winnicott as mentioned in Brogan's paper and that of Jung and the Post Jungians, in particular Michael Fordham, a colleague and friend of Winnicott. (For further explanation of the concepts used see Samuels, Shorter & Plaut 1986).
Winnicott was ambivalent in his attitude and feelings towards Jung, but despite his criticism, he appeared fascinated by both the man and his writings. This can be seen in his review of Jung's autobiography and through his discussion of a dream he had around the same period (Sedgwick 2008). Jung's teleological model of the psyche is a self-regulatory whole with the self being both the container and at the centre. He suggested that the psyche functions and develops through a dynamic tension of opposites out of which the ego and other aspects of the psyche emerge from the self in a continuing process of Individuation. Jung described this process and the attainment of the resultant third, the Transcendent Function. This can be evidenced in analysis through the emergence of a symbol that heralds change. Jung argued that the Transcendent Function would not proceed without purpose.
Jung focussed on Individuation mainly in the second half of his life but encouraged Michael Fordham, an SAP Jungian analyst, to develop his theory on the activation of the self in the earliest stages of life. Fordham conceived the Primary self, as the potential psychological state of wholeness out of which the self and its constituent parts develop. He called this process, De-integration/Re-integration. Like Winnicott, Ju