Balint Matters

Jonathan Sklar, MBBS, FRCPsych, is a training analyst and fellow of the British Psychoanalytic Society. Originally trained in psychiatry at Friern and the Royal Free Hospitals, he worked for four years in psychotherapy at the Tavistock Clinic in London. For many years he was consultant psychotherapist and head of the psychotherapy department at Addenbrookes and Fulbourn hospital in Cambridge. He now works in full time analytic practice in London. He teaches and supervises at the Institute of Psychoanalysis; teaches an MSc course on 'Ferenczi and Contemporary Psychoanalysis' at University College London; and teaches in Chicago. For the past five years, he has convened a psychoanalytic conference outside Cape Town and, for thirty years, has convened Balint groups working with general practitioners and psychiatrists. He has lectured widely throughout Europe as well as in South America. His psychoanalytic papers have been published in Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. From 2007-2011 he was Vice President of the European Psychoanalytic Federation.

Introduction , An Overview of Michael Balint's Work , Regression and new beginnings: Michael, Alice, and Enid Balint, and the circulation of ideas , Training and supervision: between learning technique and developing authenticity , Balint Groups , Balint groups: a history , The psychoanalyst and the psychiatric clinic , An experience of a discussion group with HIV medical specialists in South Africa , Assessment , Why a model of psychodynamic assessment? , The beginning of the assessment , An early memory , The dream in the assessment , The sexual life of the patient , Thoughts on the ending , Some conclusions