Established by Ernest Jones in 1913, the Society has nurtured and benefited from the work of profoundly innovative and inspiring psychoanalysts, including Melanie Klein, Anna Freud, Wilfred Bion, Ronald Fairbairn and Donald Winnicott, among many others.

Surviving the social, political and psychological tumult of both World Wars, the British Society grew and evolved to accommodate new members, ideas and attitudes. During the 1930s and ‘40s, a large number of analysts – Sigmund and Anna Freud included – fled to London from Nazi persecution in Germany, Austria, Hungary and elsewhere.

Over the decades there have been disagreements and debates, and different approaches to psychoanalytic thought and practice have sprung up. What has remained constant is the Society’s role as an active, supportive and thriving centre of psychoanalytic thought and practice.

To find out more about our long and eventful history, browse the illustrated timeline below.