ABSTRACT
This chapter traces Winnicott’s clinical approach as seen in his 1962 paper on the aims of psychoanalysis. The author draws attention to some of his major clinical innovations that extend and elaborate Freud’s metapsychology. To this end she draws on other authors such as Roussillon who shows how Winnicott made Freud’s concept of narcissism a clinical concept by highlighting the mother’s role in the formation of the Self inscribed in each individual. This is in contrast to Freud’s concept of narcissism as solipsistic. Abram also refers to several authors’ papers in Donald Winnicott Today that highlight his clinical innovations, for example Faimberg, who has shown how Winnicott’s concept of the ‘fear of breakdown’ intuited Freud’s concept of nachträglichkeit (deferred action). A specific clinical example from Winnicott’s late work is examined to illustrate the way in which he elaborated the concept of countertransference.
