The Autonomous Self: The Work of John D. Sutherland

The book's three sections reflect Sutherland's major interests: object relations theory, its application to groups and institutions, and the development of the self. As he was fond of saying, object relations was "not so much a theory as a way of working" and he puts this into practice_from understanding his individual patients to developing a blueprint for community mental health. His papers on psychoanalytic theory reveal an erudite grasp of theory building. Those on application show his profound concern for the human condition. Deriving partly from his self-analysis after the age of 70, his later papers take him beyond object relations theory to a theory of the self. No psychoanalytic thinker has such a capacity for tolerating complexity. No-one else has shown a similar ability to relate personal, individual depth psychology to social psychology. Collected together in this volume, John D. Sutherland's papers present a remarkable appreciation for the needs of the individual and the community.
Both classic and contemporary, this book will appeal to individual and group psychotherapists of any discipline, psychoanalysts. A masterpiece of care, concern, clinical acumen and vision, this book is a major contribution to human understanding.

The late John D. Sutherland was editor of the International Psycho-analytic Library, the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis and the British Journal of Medical Psychology. In his capacity as editor, he sheparded twenty-eight books to publication for his colleagues.
Dr. Sutherland was a training analyst in the British Psychoanalytic Society and Medical Director of the Tavistock Clinic. For his work as medical director he was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (C.B.E.), an honor given to only two other analysts, John Bowlby and Anna Freud.
In addition to the articles collected in this volume, Dr.Sutherland was author of Fairbairn's Journey into the Interior, published in 1989.