Edited by Corinne Masur (2021)

Phoenix Publishing: Bicester, UK

Finding the Piggle is a rich volume of papers engaging creatively, critically and admiringly with Winnicott’s The Piggle: an account of the psychoanalytic treatment of a little girl (called Gabrielle), published in 1977 after Winnicott’s death.

Gabrielle met Winnicott between the ages of 2 years 4 months and 5 years 2 months for 16 sessions during 1964-66 in a form which Winnicott described as ‘on demand.’ Two of the book’s contributors, Deborah Anna Luepnitz and Brett Kahr met with the adult Gabrielle and they draw on those conversations, as well as private papers and correspondence between Winnicott and her family, to bring Gabrielle, her family, the treatment and relationship with Winnicott to life in a vital way.

In the first moving chapter Luepnitz quotes from Gabrielle’s correspondence, ‘I have rather longed for a time when there could be a robust but sympathetic contemporary discussion about some of the issues The Piggle raises…my family were troubled and sought solution by sending one child for treatment – and that didn’t resolve all the trouble!’  Luepnitz goes on to say, ‘My goal was to find out what she would like future readers to know.’

‘Robust but sympathetic contemporary discussion’ describes well these recent essays written by child and adult psychotherapists and psychoanalysts in the UK and USA with an Introduction by Angela Joyce. They reappraise the original book from diverse perspectives in the light of developments in theory and practice and expand understanding of Gabrielle’s family’s history and Winnicott’s life at the time. There is attention to aspects of what Gabrielle presented which were commented upon less by Winnicott. Finding the Piggle also suggests ways in which Winnicott’s work with Gabrielle contributed to the shaping of his developing ideas.

Luepnitz describes the transgenerational trauma on both sides of Gabrielle’s family, not explicitly mentioned by Winnicott. Her mother’s family were German-speaking Czech Jews. The mother’s Grandmother and Aunt were murdered in the Holocaust.  Gabrielle was the first post-Holocaust child and may have been named for one of these relatives.  Her father also experienced multiple separations from his parents and losses in childhood.  Luepnitz records the adult Gabrielle’s interest in the predominance of ‘blackness’ in the material and how it may relate to racism, as well as her preoccupation with death. Other authors in the volume also think about these themes.

Brett Kahr offers a detailed historical account of Winnicott’s ‘frantically overburdened’ life during the years of the treatment, as reality shaped the ‘therapy on demand.’ Several authors show how Winnicott’s case has the ongoing potential to inform consideration of frequency of sessions in contemporary practice and training. Christopher Reeves argues that Winnicott demonstrated that analytic treatment could be ‘intensive’ without involving daily sessions for several years.

Winnicott largely interprets what Gabrielle brings so vividly in terms of oedipal conflicts and rivalry.  In his summary of the sessions Christopher Reeves describes how interpretations increasingly give way to play in the course of the treatment.  He argues that Winnicott’s act of pretending to be the greedy baby gradually allowed Gabrielle to unbelieve the terrifying delusional objects which she felt to be invading her mind, and suggests the playful act of pretending may have been more beneficial than the content of the interpretations. 

Corinne Masur’s chapter picks up on Gabrielle’s sadness and feeling bereft, drawing attention to the hospitalisation of her mother at the birth of her sister for at least 10 days, something not mentioned by Winnicott.  She explores the impact of triple losses for Gabrielle.  

Winnicott described his way of working with Gabrielle’s parents as psychoanalysis partagé (shared). The last three chapters in Finding the Piggle explore working with children and parents in contemporary practice, taking account of the transmission of trauma between generations.  Laurel Silber explores the therapeutic process in The Piggle from the perspective of the field of child relational psychoanalytic work.  Justine Kalas Reeves explores Winnicott’s role in relation to the family as a ‘developmental object’ and the analytic attitude of ‘witnessing’. Zack Eleftheriadou uses an interpersonal framework and explores cultural and racial issues in The Piggle.

I wholeheartedly recommend Finding the Piggle to anyone interested in the rich life of children, adults and families, as an invaluable companion for anyone reading The Piggle today, whether for the first time or returning to it and in the ongoing understanding and extending of the work of Donald Winnicott.

Linda Wisheart

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, Oxfordshire, UK

January 2022