Women and Creativity

Frances Thomson Salo trained with the British Society as a child and adult psychoanalyst, is a Training analyst and past President of the Australian Psychoanalytical Society, Chair of the International Psychoanalytical Association Committee of Women in Psychoanalysis, an editorial board member of the 'International Journal of Psychoanalysis', a consultant infant mental health clinician at the Royal Women's Hospital and child psychotherapist at the Royal Children's Hospital, an Honorary Fellow of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, an Associate Professor on the faculty of the University of Melbourne Graduate Diploma for Infant and Parent Mental Health, and has published on child and infant-parent psychotherapy. Laura Tognoli Pasquali, after qualifying as a medical doctor in Italy, moved to London where she worked as a psychiatrist in hospitals and therapeutic communities. She trained with the British Psychoanalytical Society in the Kleinian group and in 1976 qualified as an analyst. Back in Italy, she worked in Milan mainly in private practice, becoming a training and supervising analyst in the Italian Psychoanalytical Society. Eventually she moved to a small fishing village on the Ligurian Riviera and there she had the opportunity to cultivate a lifelong interest: growing flowers and plants. Taking care of plants has widened her love of teaching and her attention to clinical work; she has seen many women and men on her couch and thought deeply about their life experiences. As a result she was pleased to accept to become a member of the Committee on Women and Psychoanalysis.

'The title tells the truth: there is so much creativity in this book, which is not at all academic and which deals with a number of moving topics. More than about women, it speaks about our world, contemporary life and many stories seen from a woman's perspective. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that this is a scientific book, based on that amazing human science that is psychoanalysis. Faced with this blossoming of female creativity, it is only natural to refl ect on how much women psychoanalysts still have to contribute in the future to the advancement of our understanding of mental life, both in individuals and in society as a whole.'- Stefano Bolognini, President of the International Psychoanalytical Association'Feminine creativity - both psychic and biological - has for a long time remained a closely guarded secret despite the efforts that female analysts have made to cast light on the prevailing darkness. This bold and beautiful book about female creativity is delivered by Laura Tognoli Pasquali and Frances Thomson-Salo as tender midwives. The labour has been induced by both men and women - their feminine and masculine elements together contributing to the birth of the book.'- Elina Reenkola, training analyst of the Finnish Psychoanalytic Society, past European co-chair of COWAP, and author of The Veiled Female Core

• Introduction -- Creativity in Psychoanalytic Theory -- Creativity and authenticity -- Discussion of “Creativity and authenticity” by Irma Brenman Pick -- Listening, technique, and all that jazz -- William, did you say, “Much Ado about Nothing”? -- Discussion of “William, did you say: ‘Much Ado about Nothing’?” by Juan Eduardo Tesone -- Female elements and functions in creativity -- Women and creativity -- Creativity in Psychoanalytic Practice throughout the Life Cycle -- When creativity restarts: distorted and adaptive forms -- A little girl’s analysis -- A psychoanalyst in the labour room: the birth of emotions -- Generativity and creativity: dialogue between an obstetrician and a psychoanalyst -- Dreaming about pregnancy when it is not there: two clinical cases -- A particular kind of sterility -- Discussion of “A particular kind of sterility” by Jones de Luca -- “With you I can bleat my heart out”*—older women in psychoanalytic practice -- Creativity in the Arts and Literature -- Using contents from a sewing box: some aspects of the artwork of Sonia Delaunay and Louise Bourgeois -- Commentary on Brodeuses -- The voice of the mother in To the Lighthouse -- Living Creatively in Society -- Happily ever after: depictions of coming of age in fairy tales -- Cultural altruism and masochism in women in the East -- Horses and other animals: some background obstacles to female creativity in Russia -- Is healing possible for women survivors of domestic violence? -- No peaceable woman: creativity in feminist political psychoanalysis—commemorating Margarete Mitscherlich-Nielsen (17.7.1917–12.6.2012) -- Should we as psychoanalysts apologise to women? -- Maria Pia Conte -- Laura Tognoli Pasquali -- Afterword