The brief psychoanalytic psychotherapy technique of D. W. Winnicott

The present study examined the brief psychotherapy technique of D. W. Winnicott. Five cases were used (1 adult and 4 children) from Winnicott's Therapeutic Consultations in Child Psychiatry (1971). These data were examined by three independent raters in order to establish interrater agreement regarding Winnicott's brief psychotherapy technique. Winnicott's five psychotherapy strategies which were assessed include Trust Development, Free-association, Facilitation of Regression, Facilitation of Reliving of Traumatic Experience, and Interpretation of Dreams. It was hypothesized, and found, that free-association was most frequently employed.; Winnicott conceives of his technique as occurring in three phases. The aim of his technique is to "reach to the (patient's) ease (Phase I), and so to his fantasy (Phase II), and so to his dreams (Phase III)."; A review of the brief psychodynamic psychotherapy literature reveals two distinct perspectives. The earlier literature beginning with Freud, reflects an interest in the technique of free-association as essential. Ferenczi, Rank, Alexander and French, Balint and Winnicott continued in this tradition with an interest in the curative factors of a therapeutic relationship in several ways: applicability to a broad range of patients by adjusting technique to fit with the experience of patients, an interest in pre-oedipal experience and precedence of affective experience over intellectual processes.; The later period (1960's through 1980's) including Malan, Sifneos and Davanloo reflects a shift in emphasis to selection of patients and the implementation of technique which omits free-association. Interest was shifted to a focus on technique over relationship as evidenced by selection of patients on the basis of their capacity to adapt to existing technique. Concomitantly, there was a decrease of interest in developmental issues and early childhood experience and increasing emphasis on insight and interpretation.; Winnicott remains in the middle, between the two traditions--contributing an original variation of Freud's technique. As did Freud, Winnicott also employs free-association leading to understanding of the unconscious through the interpretation of dreams, in a way that is applicable to a broad range of patients in the practice of brief psychotherapy.