ABSTRACT
D. W. Winnicott first read this paper before the British Psycho-Analytical Society on June 20, 1956. It was subsequently published in Through Paediatrics to Psychoanalysis. Although he does not acknowledge any biological contributions to the antisocial tendency—what contemporary psychiatry would label symptoms of conduct disorder—he elaborates on the important role of the mother in gratifying object seeking and containing the aggressive impulses of her child. Successful “holding” promotes a “union of the two trends” and ushers in a tendency toward self-cure. Winnicott’s therapeutic optimism—an empirically verifiable finding 50 years later for the conduct-disordered child—and practical clinical wisdom are evident throughout these writings.
