The book consists of Winnicott's own notes from the last six months of the analysis of "Dr. A," which took place in two phases, one in the 1940s and the other in the 1950s. The introduction is by Masud Khan, and indeed the texts included in the book were compiled by him, presumably with the blessings of Clare Winnicott. Winnicott had already written about this patient in the text "Withdrawal and Regression" (included in the volume "From Pediatrics to Psychoanalysis"), marking his interest in the treatment of non-neurotic patients and the need for the analyst to listen and respond to these patients differently than to those for whom classical psychoanalysis had been developed. In letters from the 1940s to Hannah Segal and others, and in other writings, he noted that classical analysis, where the interpretation of intrapsychic conflict is the main means of analytical therapy, does not work for these patients. He clearly considers Dr. A as a patient who needs something other than classical psychoanalysis. Possibly from here arises Masud Khan's choice for the title - the contrasting yet connecting: holding and interpretation in the technique of psychoanalysis.

Reading the description of this analytical therapy, it is not difficult to perceive hints of many of Winnicott's subversive ideas about what it means to be a human being and what is needed to become one. Many questions are raised, both explicitly and implicitly, about what it is that we do when we analyze.

(from the afterword by Angela Joyce)