ABSTRACT
Presided over by Ernest Jones in the 1920s and 1930s, British psychoanalysts rooted themselves directly and deeply in Freud’s classical theory and technique. The philosophy of open-mindedness about psychoanalytic matters was well established by the time that the Freuds came to London in 1939. For the majority of Independents, fundamental psychic structure is not completed in infancy but continues throughout childhood, adolescence and beyond. Therapeutic psychoanalysis must entail detailed reconstruction of essential aspects of each phase of development and its working through. Fundamentally the Independent approach to therapy is a non-controversial one of perceiving and interpreting the patient’s communications in terms of their resistant or defensive content. As for any psychoanalyst, the aim is always hermeneutic in nature, to enhance meanings by verbal interpretation. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
