Winnicott With Lacan: Towards a New Middle Group?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59539/1679-432X-v10n2-170Keywords:
Winnicott, Lacan; countertransference; play; meliorism; psychoanalysis.Abstract
Winnicott with Lacan: towards a new Middle Group? During the second half of the 20th century, many psychoanalysts aligned themselves with either Donald Winnicott – and the British school – or with the French school of Jacques Lacan. Avoidance of the other tradition seemed almost phobic. In the past two decades, however, interest has grown in reading these two great analysts together. It has been said that Winnicott introduced the comic tradition into psychoanalysis (as demonstrated in his emphasis on play, and more generally in his meliorism). Lacan, in contrast, sustained Freud’s tragic vision (as demonstrated in teachings such as “The sexual relation does not exist” and in placing the analyst in the position of death). Lacan’s followers have been criticized for offering too little environmental provision to his patients, and ignoring counter transference, while Winnicott’s followers have been criticized for overvaluing the counter transference and ignoring the role of language in psychic life. Thus, in some ways, the theories of Winnicott and Lacan appear to be complementary and mutually limiting. The point of this paper, however, is not to suggest combining them in order to produce some new “total” theory. The purpose is to enhance teaching and practice by learning from both Winnicott, the analyst of devotion, and Lacan, the analyst of desire.References
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