The Concept of Clinical Regression Compared with that of Defence Organization

In this lecture to psychotherapy symposium at McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts, Winnicott discusses the treatment and understanding of the psychoses from a clinical psychoanalytical perspective, with an emphasis on a particular kind of regression in the clinical psychoanalytic setting, in which regression is not a matter of the standard defences deployed against recovery. Rather, regression may occur where a patient needs the analyst to provide a dependability originally lacking in early life and in which real needs have to be met for the first time for forward movement to resume in the patient’s development.

Hospital Care Supplementing Intensive Psychotherapy in Adolescence

In this talk to the McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, on the opening of new facilities for the care of psychiatrically ill adolescents, Winnicott describes some characteristics of normal adolescence and their relationship to the symptomatology of psychiatrically ill children at the age of puberty. A case is given that illustrates some of the difficulties that belong to the management of patients of this age group. Winnicott sees intensive psychotherapy as working alongside psychiatric care. The topics of maturation, pathology, diagnosis and management are covered.

In Pursuit of William James's McLean Hospital Records: An Inherent Conflict between Postmortem Privacy Rights and Advancing Psychological Science

Psychological historians and psychobiographers advance our understanding of psychological theories through the intensive study of the lives of pioneering psychologists. In the course of their archival research, psychobiographers often uncover private information on the lives of historic psychologists that may never have been intended for public view and scrutiny. As such, psychobiographers need to balance considerations of the postmortem privacy of historic figures with the potential benefit to psychological science of revealing private information. Federal research guidelines and the ethical principles of the American Psychological Association concern themselves primarily with research on living subjects and are generally silent on best ethical practices regarding deceased historic and public figures. Using the case of William James's possible sojourn at McLean Hospital as an example, this article examines legal and ethical issues regarding the postmortem privacy protections of influential psychologists. An actuarial model is presented that recommends the postmortem time period after which private information, including mental health records, may become open to researchers. A decision-tree model on the process of requesting, securing, and reporting on such information is also presented. Finally, specific suggestions for follow-up qualitative and quantitative research on psychobiographical ethics are put forth.