ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part provides the reader an opportunity to experience the evolution of Donald Winnicott's thinking and its influence through the eyes of contributors who have had personal or in-depth understanding of Winnicott, the man and/or his thinking. It offers a view of Winnicott through the lens of a trainee paediatrician who met him in 1952. The part discusses the illnesses that children suffered and of the hospitals in which they were treated at this time and of the influence this had on developing paediatrics. Winnicott's contribution to the area is reappraised as is his difficulty in influencing his colleagues to think about the mother and infant from an emotional perspective. The part explores a sobering reflection on the way in which Winnicott's unique and important ideas, so important to psychoanalytic thought, have largely failed to have a continuing influence in the field of paediatrics.
