Play and Reflection in Donald Winnicott's Writings

‘The Winnicott Clinic of Psychotherapy was founded in 1969 and since 2000 has concentrated on the wider dissemination of the work and ideas of Dr Donald W. Winnicott (1896-1971), the distinguished English paediatrician, child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
“To that end, it has established the Winnicott Clinic Senior Research Fellowship in Psychotherapy and the Donald Winnicott Memorial Lecture, an annual event designed for a wide audience of professionals and others involved with children. These lectures focus upon a specific topic, arising from Winnicott’s life and ideas, in terms of relevance for twenty-first century living.” – Eric Koops, LVO, Chairman of the Trustees, The Winnicott Clinic of Psychotherapy

The third book in the Winnicott Clinic Lecture Series consists of a lecture given by the eminent Professor André Green, on Winnicott’s theory on play. He discusses Winnicott’s view on the importance of play, as discussed mainly in Playing and Reality, and then moves on to presenting his own, somewhat contradictory, view on it. He moves away from the mother-baby relationship as the basis for playing and allows the external world to interfere. As usual, Professor Green’s writing is innovative and provocative, inviting people to think for themselves rather than accepting theories already laid out for them.