Masud Khan was a brilliant psychoanalyst, Winnicott’s “principal disciple,” collaborator, editor, and analysand. He was chief editor of the International Psychoanalytical Library for 20 years, wrote four books, and served as training analyst for Christopher Bollas and Adam Phillips. Simultaneously, Masud Khan was an alcoholic, antisemitic, alcoholic, who repeatedly engaged in sexual relationships with patients and continuously violated the analytic frame.
It is widely recognized that Winnicott failed Khan in his analysis, allowing him to fall into madness. This talk will argue that Khan’s radical otherness served as a significant reason for this failure. While deeply embedded in elite, Western culture and preferences, he simultaneously maintained a feudal, that is pre-capitalist identity that stood outside of Judeo-Christian norms. An examination of his life will cast light on current debates about otherness in psychoanalysis.