The Baby And The Bathwater

NINA COLTART THE BABY AND THE BATHWATER Foreword by Christopher Bollas KARNAC BOOKS T H E BABY AND T H E BATHWATER Nina Coltart THE BABY AND T H E B A T H W A T E R Nina Coltart Foreword by Christopher Bollas London KARNAC BOOKS Acknowledgements Chapter five, "A Philosopher and His Mind", is included in The Mind Object, edited by Edward G. Corrigan and Pearl-Ellen Gordon (London: Karnac Books; Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1995). Chapter seven, "And Now for Something Completely Different. . Λ is included in Psychodynamic Supervision: Perspectives on the Supervisor and the Supervisee, edited by Martin Rock (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, in press). Chapter nine, "Endings'*, is included in Psychoanalysis at the Political Border: Essays in Honour of Rafael Moses, edited by Leo Rangell and Rena Moses-Hrushovski (Madison, CT: International Universities Press, 1996). First published in 1996 by H. Karnac (Books) Ltd, 118 Finchley Road, London NW3 5HT Copyright © 1996 by Nina Coltart All rights reserved The rights of Nina Coltart to be identified as author of this work have been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloging in Publication Data A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978 1 85575 134 7 Edited, designed, and produced by Communication Crafts 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Printed in Great Britain by BPC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter For Isabel thanks with love and CONTENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR PREFACE FOREWORD Christopher Bollas CHAPTER ONE The man with two mothers CHAPTER TWO Why am I here? CHAPTER THREE Two's company, three's a crowd CHAPTER FOUR Handling the transference CHAPTER FIVE A philosopher and his mind Vlii CONTENTS CHAPTER SIX Blood, shit, and tears CHAPTER SEVEN "And now for something completely different. CHAPTER EIGHT Buddhism and psychoanalysis revisited CHAPTER NINE Endings CHAPTER TEN The baby and the bathwater REFERENCES INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR Read Modern Languages at Oxford before training i n medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and subsequently as a psycho­ analyst while working i n the National Health Service as a psy­ chiatrist. Set up i n private practice i n 1961, and has had a mixed psychoanalysis/psychotherapy practice ever since; also rather specialized i n consultations for diagnosis and assessment, lead­ ing to referral, and, over a period of thirty years, did total of j u s t over 3,000. Has travelled extensively, including for teaching pur­ poses i n Australia, Sweden, and the United States. Retired at Christmas 1994. I n retirement, does a lot of reading and writing, gardening, and for part-time voluntary work, has become a Room Warden at Woburn Abbey, the local Stately Home. Has also been made a Governor of a local primary school. Has written Slouching towards Bethlehem: And Further Psy­ choanalytic Explorations (1992) and How to Survive as a Psycho­ therapist (1993). f ix PREFACE T h i s is a collection of papers w r i t t e n ( w i t h one