The Northfield Experiments—a reappraisal 70 Years On

Abstract

More than 70 years ago during the Second World War, what became known as the Northfield Experiments began in a southern suburb of Birmingham, England. By 1946 these experiments had ceased and the major participants had journeyed in different directions but carried with them new ideas, particularly in relation to group psychotherapy and more generally applied psychoanalysis. John Rickman, Wilfred Bion, Tom Main, Sigmund Foulkes, Harold Bridger, Patrick de Maré and others at the end of the war dispersed to create abundantly. Such creativity fertilized the development of the principles and practices of therapeutic communities, psychoanalytic group therapy, the application of an analytic understanding to organizations and more. This article includes a consideration of how practice was influenced from these origins. This contribution has as a background the author working for over two years at the Cassel Hospital early in the 1990s and more recently attending a conference in January 2018 conducted at Northfield or Hollymoor Hospital, as it was originally, and remains, known. It includes some personal reflections.