J. W. T. Redfearn

Redfearn became a member of the founding generation of the Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP) and received clinical supervision from German refugee Gerhard Adler, himself trained by Carl Jung in Zurich.[1] Over the course of fifty years, Redfearn treated many analytic patients, became a Training Analyst, supervised trainees, became Chair of the Society (1967–70) and Director of Training (1971-1983).[1][7]

His much cited papers published in various journals reflect his enduring concern with the nature of the Self and with the body and his concept of 'subpersonalities'.[3] For instance, his 1982 paper on persons as things and things as persons has reverberated in a subsequent work by a philosopher considering ourselves in relation to the built environment.[8][9] He greatly expanded these and other concerns in two seminal volumes, My Self, My Many Selves and The Exploding Self, a book whose theme could have been expanded into further volumes.[1] It demonstrates how treatment characteristic of SAP practitioners is centred on concern for patients whose breakdown threatens disintegration and who may be on or past the brink of psychosis. In the case of schizophrenia, Redfearn suggests, the explosiveness of psychoid change, which he likens to a nuclear explosion, there is the risk of irreversible fragmentation, or conversely, a path to improved integration.[1]

Between 1967 and 1976, the SAP was the scene of a lengthy struggle between two theoretical standpoints. One 'classical', led by the Zurich-inspired Adler, the other developmentally and Kleinian inspired led by Fordham. In 1976 the differences proved insuperable and the Adler group left the SAP to form their own separate body. Redfearn found his loyalties severely tested and he went on to develop his own theoretical synthesis.[1] His theoretical exposition may be found in his first book. He agreed with Jung that, 'the goal of psychic development is the self', and he painted mandalas to give expression to this aim.[10][1]

In 1974 with two colleagues, Dr. Camilla Bosanquet and Peter Lomas, Redfearn established an independent psychotherapy institution, the Guild of Psychotherapists. It was intended as a pluralist professional programme to foster independence of clinical thought and practice. Redfearn and Bosanquet remained however members of the SAP.[1]