ABSTRACT
When asked for a title for this lecture I gave “The Time Factor in Treatment” (including social work). I had several reasons for wishing to take up this theme; the theme of time, the great physician, a phrase which I find comes from Disraeli. There are innumerable references to time which could be quoted here: “Time, not our time, rings the bell” is T. S. Eliot’s way of drawing attention to the power of the unconscious. I could make another quotation, this time from myself, which refers to maternal adaptation enabling the baby to catch hold of time.
