This book brings together Dr Winnicott's work on psychoanalysis and child development during the period 1957-1963 and explores the idea that mental hospital disorders relate to failures of development in infancy. It focuses on the application of Freud's theories to infancy.

Donald Winnicott (1896-1971) was trained in paediatrics, a profession that he practiced to the end of his life, in particular at the Paddington Green Children's Hospital. He began analysis with James Strachey in 1923, became a member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society in 1935, and twice served as its President. He was also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and of the British Psychological Society.

Editorial Note -- Introduction -- Papers on Development -- Psycho-Analysis and the Sense of Guilt (1958) -- The Capacity to be Alone (1958) -- The Theory of the Parent-Infant Relationship (1960) -- Ego Integration in Child Development (1962) -- Providing for the Child in Health and in Crisis (1962) -- The Development of the Capacity for Concern (1963) -- From Dependence towards Independence in the Development of the Individual (1963) -- Morals and Education (1963) -- Theory and Technique -- On the Contribution of Direct Child Observation to Psycho-Analysis (1957) -- Child Analysis in the Latency Period (1958) -- Classification: Is there a Psycho-Analytic Contribution to Psychiatric Classification? (1959-1964) -- Ego Distortion in Terms of True and False Self (1960) -- String: A Technique of Communication (1960) -- Counter-Transference (1960) -- The Aims of Psycho-Analytical Treatment (1962) -- A Personal View of the Kleinian Contribution (1962) -- Communicating and Not Communicating Leading to a Study of Certain Opposites (1963) -- Training for Child Psychiatry (1963) -- Psychotherapy of Character Disorders (1963) -- The Mentally Ill in Your Caseload (1963) -- Psychiatric Disorder in Terms of Infantile Maturational Processes (1963) -- Hospital Care Supplementing Intensive Psychotherapy in Adolescence (1963) -- Dependence in Infant-Care, in Child-Care, and in the Psycho-Analytic Setting (1963)