ABSTRACT
Readers will no doubt have noticed that my discussions of management matters have been based very largely on applied psychoanalytic approaches. This is because they are approaches that I am largely familiar with. However, this is in no way intended as an indication of any lack of sympathy with the various behavioural approaches which have, in many instances, proved very beneficial. My favoured orientation has arisen from my long-standing contacts with those skilled in applied psychoanalytic psychotherapy. During my social science studies I was influenced considerably by one of our teachers – the late Professor Paul Halmos – who espoused a modified psychoanalytic approach. Many of our teachers on the (then) Home Office Probation Training Course were very sympathetic to applied psychoanalytic thinking. Subsequently, when I undertook my mental health training at the London School of Economics, many of the teaching staff (both in our academic studies and in our fieldwork experience) espoused the same approaches. At Leeds University’s Department of Psychiatry two influential members of staff stand out in my recollections, the late Dr Ronald Markillie with his keen interest in psycho-dynamic approaches to group therapy, and the late Dr Harry Guntrip, a lay psychoanalyst. In more recent times I was privileged to have the friendship of the late Dr Murray Cox during his time as a visiting medical consultant psychotherapist at Broadmoor (High Security) Hospital. His work, based on his deep appreciation of applied psychoanalytic thinking, I found highly informative and stimulating, as no doubt have many others over the years. Finally, I value very highly the work of Patrick Casement, referred to earlier in this book. My reason
for the foregoing comments was that I thought I owed it to my readers to make a short statement of my professional orientation.
