This chapter traces the origins of psychodynamic psychotherapy back to the late eighteenth century and to the development of ‘moral treatment’ by Pinel in Paris and William Tuke in York. It also considers the contribution of Mesmer’s theory of animal magnetism, and its revival as hypnotism in the second half of the nineteenth century by Jean-Martin Charcot and others. It then goes on to consider the work of Freud and the various critiques of his theories. Next the chapter considers the phenomenon of shell shock in the First World War and how it led to further developments in psychotherapy. It then looks at the creation of the Tavistock Clinic in the early twentieth century and the work of Anna Freud and Melanie Klein. Object relations theory is outlined, and the work of therapists such as Fairbairn, Bowlby, and Winnicott is examined. Finally the chapter briefly considers ‘the turn to the child’ in psychotherapy, the development of group psychotherapy, and the attempts to treat psychosis with psychotherapeutic methods.

In November 1914, an Australian couple living in Middlesex, England, offered their house for use as a convalescent home for sick and wounded Australian soldiers recovering from injury. The AAMC accepted Mr and Mrs Charles Billyard-Leake’s offer, and their house and its grounds, Harefield Park, became a convalescent hospital before eventually becoming 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital (1AAH) Harefield. The AAMC originally intended it to house fifty to a hundred patients plus staff but, eight months after opening, the accommodation had been increased to provide a thousand beds for convalescing soldiers. While at least one soldier mused that its purpose was to house those who were not ‘fit to die in their own homes’, its main function was to rehabilitate sick and wounded soldiers for a return to duty.1 The hospital eventually included surgical, medical, X-ray, massage and electric therapy as well as recreation and study departments. Along with the other auxiliary hospitals in the Australian network – 2nd Australian Auxiliary Hospital (2AAH), Southall, and 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital (3AAH), Dartford – it formed an integral part of the medical services provided to Australian soldiers wounded in the First World War.