W. R. D. Fairbairn and The Problem of Homosexuality: a Study in Psychoanalytic Prejudice

Abstract

W. R. D. Fairbairn believed that the psychoanalyst’s motivations and theories must ultimately be rooted in a need to resolve personal conflicts. His self-analytic and other records, now publicly available, indicate how his struggles with unacceptable sexual feelings and their symptomatic manifestations affected not only his theorizing, especially about sexuality, but also his clinical practice, as well as his personal and family life. Fairbairn’s case affords a unique opportunity to document the effects of homophobia in a major psychoanalyst.

• W. R. D. Fairbairn
• object relations theory
• self-analysis
• homosexuality
• prejudice
• homophobia
• urinary phobia