ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows how Winnicott’s early study to become a psychoanalyst and child analyst was very much influenced by the pioneering work of Melanie Klein, who had settled in London since 1926 after coming from Berlin via Budapest. It starts with an evocation of Bion’s account of a fellow soldier gasping his last words at the moment of death from an appalling injury. The book shows how Bion’s trajectory towards psychoanalysis was via group dynamics. It offers a brief history of the nature of holding and relates how clear it is in Winnicott’s work that it basically depicts the crucial fact of the mother’s psyche and how her maternal dedication to her infant is absolutely key to the infant’s mental health.
