Becoming a Person Through Psychoanalysis

Neville Symington traces the path along which he has travelled to become a person. This has run side by side with trying to become an analyst. The author has made landmark discoveries while reading philosophy, sociology, history, and literature. Learning to paint, learning to fly a plane, and also the study of art and of aviation theory have opened up new vistas. This account is only a sketch--the completed picture will never materialize. It is therefore autobiographical but only in a partial sense. It is always emphasized that one's own personal experience of being psychoanalyzed is by far the most significant part of a psychoanalyst's education.

What Neville Symington is attempting to do in this book is to trace the pathway along which he has travelled to become a person. This has run side by side with trying to become an analyst. The author has made landmark discoveries when reading philosophy, sociology, history, and literature. Learning to paint, learning to fly a plane, and also the study of art and of aviation theory have opened up new vistas. This account is only a sketch. The completed picture will never materialize. It is therefore autobiographical but only in a partial sense. It is always emphasized that one's own personal experience of being psychoanalysed is by far the most significant part of a psychoanalyst's education.

Contents1 John Klauber, independent clinician 2 The patient makes the analyst 3 The analyst's act of freedom as agent of therapeutic change 4 Phantasy effects that which it represents 5 Maturity and interpretation as joint therapeutic agents 6 The response aroused by the psychopath 7 The origins of rage and aggression 8 The psychotherapy of a mentally handicapped patient 9 Countertransference with mentally handicapped patients 10 Independence of mind: attachment and the British Society 11 Migration from the Tavistock: impetus for mental change 12 The struggle to achieve independence of mind in the British Psychoanlytical Society13 Narcissism: a reconstructed theory14 Narcissism as trauma preserved 15 Corruption of interpretation through narcissism 16 The core of narcissism 17 The influence of Wilfred Bion on my clinical work 18 Bion and trauma transformed 19 Envy: a psychological analysis20 The structure of paranoia 21 A theory of communication for psychoanalysis

Neville Symington