Hidden Histories of British Psychoanalysis

From Freud's Death Bed to Laing's Missing Tooth

Brett Kahr

• Publisher: Phoenix Publishing House
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781800131903
• eBook ISBN: 9781800131910
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychoanalysis
• Index: Psychology

In this compellingly written and meticulously researched new book, Professor Brett Kahr draws upon extensive unpublished archival sources and upon his four decades of oral history interviews to paint fascinating portraits of many of the icons of mental health. Hidden Histories of British Psychoanalysis: From Freud's Death Bed to Laing's Missing Tooth includes detailed accounts of Kahr's interviews with such noted figures as Enid Balint, Marion Milner, Ronald Laing, John Bowlby and his wife, Ursula Longstaff Bowlby, as well as numerous members of Donald Winnicott's family.

Framed as a series of glimpses into the early history of British psychoanalysis, Kahr explores how the German-speaking Sigmund Freud learned how to psychoanalyse English-speaking patients; how Enid Eichholz (the future wife of Michael Balint) pioneered couple psychoanalysis in the wake of the Second World War; how Donald Winnicott treated "The Piggle" in the midst of his own health crises; and how Masud Khan degenerated from a clinical sage into an anti-Semite.

A breathtaking combination of interviews, reminiscences, and well-documented scholarship, this book provides a gripping overview of many of the key figures in British psychoanalysis, all of whom made unparalleled contributions to the mental health profession, and whose lives and careers deserve to be visited and revisited.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Introduction. My Love of Deceased Psychoanalysts
• Part I. Sigmund Freud as an Englishman
• Part II. Unpublished Winnicottiana
• Part III. Dr and Mrs Bowlby
• Part IV. Two Truly Unassuming Icons
• Part V. The Bad Boys of British Psychoanalysis
• Conclusion. How to Be Intimate with a Corpse: The Role of Psychoanalytical Historiography
• Notes
• Original Sources of Chapters
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Index
• Back Cover