ABSTRACT
John D. Sutherland belongs to a tradition of psychoanalytic and psychiatric thought with deep roots in Scottish intellectual and religious life, extending back at least to Adam Smith and probably before. This tradition stresses the fundamental roots of the self as developing within, and constituted by, relationships; the individual is born into a community of others, and the aim of therapy is to promote interpersonal relations, to restore the individual to the community. As an “incomer” to Scotland, having moved from the USA, the peculiarly Scottish perspective, with its stress on the central importance of community, has been a great discovery for the author. One of the most pervasive effects of working with a deprived community where social problems are so prevalent is the insistent pressure to ignore the realities of family life, both good and bad. In reality, the painful fact is that the children are often still living within a family that is unable to meet their needs.
