The Piggle: Decoding an Enigma

The Piggle, in its 40th anniversary year, was published after Winnicott's death. He treated this 2‐year 4‐month‐old girl over two and a half years. Yet, until recently, The Piggle has been ambivalently reviewed and minimally studied, despite elegant posthumous papers, a recent introduction to Winnicott's collected works and an interview with the ‘Piggle’ in adulthood. We show that Winnicott's technique and interpretations fall into three categories: (1) early Kleinian ‘deep’ interpretations; (2) an Anna Freudian approach with developmental considerations, respect for defences, the analyst as a new developmental object; (3) a Winnicottian attitude and interpretations that hew close to the manifest material and emphasize the environment–individual relationship and full‐bodied play. Winnicott's ‘interpretations’ include verbal interpretation, prosody, gesture, facial expression, body movements and contact. Winnicott details the child's reactions to the different interpretations. We close suggesting that Winnicott carried on dialogues, not only with the child, but also internal dialogues with former teachers (Klein/Riviere; Strachey as his first analyst and so connecting to the Freudians in the Institute of Psychoanalysis) and perhaps with Anna Freud as a colleague after her arrival in London in 1938. This is a manifestation of false versus true (analytic) selves. Understanding Winnicott's internal struggle with his former teachers/analysts, corrected by his responsiveness to the child's responses and suggestions, resulted in his bringing a truer self to this child's treatment and unravels The Piggle's enigmatic qualities.