Introduction to Playing and Reality

2016 ◽  
pp. 261-264
Author(s):  
Donald W. Winnicott
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Object ◽  
Transitional Objects ◽  
Transitional Phenomena ◽  
Direct Observations

Winnicott’s introduction to his book Playing and Reality is a development of his paper ‘Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena’, drawing attention to the paradox involved in the use by the infant of the transitional object and its value for every individual who is capable of being enriched by the cultural link with past and future. He is no longer making direct observations, but notes much research in this area done by Renata Gaddini, Joseph Solomon, Olive Stephenson and others.

The Fate of the Transitional Object

2016 ◽  
pp. 523-528
Author(s):  
Donald W. Winnicott
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Object ◽  
Transitional Objects ◽  
Transitional Phenomena ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Individual

After describing transitional objects, Winnicott describes the passing of the transitional object. He discusses his theory that if the transitional object and transitional phenomena are at the very basis of symbolism, then these phenomena may mark the origin in the life of the infant and child of a third area of existing, which might turn out to be the cultural life of the individual.

Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena

2016 ◽  
pp. 447-462
Author(s):  
Donald W. Winnicott
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Object ◽  
Transitional Objects ◽  
Transitional Phenomena ◽  
Symbol Formation ◽  
Depressive Position ◽  
Internal Objects

In these notes, distributed prior to the first presentation of this paper, Winnicott introduces his concepts of the transitional object and transitional phenomena. Winnicott starts by examining the first ‘not-me’ possession of the infant, and the wide variations in the infant’s relationship to this possession. Winnicott defines a transitional object as hallucination taken for granted because of the immaturity of the infant, and ‘transition’ to be a transition from one kind of experience to another. The phenomena occur at times of anxiety, at which time an object becomes vitally important for the infant for use in its defence. Sometimes there is no transitional object except the mother herself. Winnicott summarizes the qualities of the object: among other things, that the infant assumes rights over it, that it is cuddled and mutilated, that it must never change, and that its fate is to be gradually decathected. Winnicott discusses these phenomena in relation to tension around the gratification of instincts, the pleasure-pain principle, introjection and projection, symbol formation, and the depressive position. He states that only if there are good internal objects can the infant use transitional objects, which are intermediate between internal and external. He provides several clinical examples and a list of his references, including quotations.

Ideas and Definitions

2016 ◽  
pp. 359-360
Author(s):  
Donald W. Winnicott
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Object ◽  
Transitional Objects ◽  
True Self ◽  
False Self ◽  
Transitional Phenomena ◽  
Early Note

In this early note of ideas, Winnicott gives early definitions of the false self and the true self, transitional objects and transitional phenomena: ‘Transitional object’ was intended to give significance to the first signs in the developing infant of an acceptance of a symbol. Regression to dependence is different from ‘regression’ as applied ordinarily to instinct positions. Good-enough mother is a description of the dependence that belongs to earliest infancy.

Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena

2016 ◽  
pp. 405-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald W. Winnicott
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Object ◽  
Transitional Objects ◽  
Transitional Phenomena ◽  
Soft Objects ◽  
Object Relationship

In this essay, Winnicott describes the interstices between illusion and reality. He focuses his discussion on the soft objects used by an infant, what he calls a transitional object. He says transitional objects involve the nature of the object, the infant’s capacity to recognize the object as ‘not-me’ and yet to feel paradoxically that he has created that object. Through the attachment to the transitional object the infant initiates an affectionate type of object relationship. Winnicott emphasises the importance of this transitional object to the infant, and how parents respond to it. The transitional object belongs to the realm of illusion, which is at the basis of initiation of experience. An infant’s transitional object ordinarily becomes gradually decathected as cultural interests develop.

Children's Use of Transitional Objects during Daily Separations from Significant Caregivers

1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Lookabaugh Triebenbacher ◽  
Deborah W. Tegano
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Transitional Object ◽  
Transitional Objects

Attachment behaviors of 105 toddlers were observed as the children separated from significant caregiver(s) at child care. Analysis indicated that children attached to a transitional object and using the object when separating engaged in ritualistic touching behaviors directed at a variety of targets. Results lend some support to the notion of transitional objects facilitating separation and reducing anxiety in mildly stressful situations.

The Collected Works of D. W. Winnicott

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case History ◽  
British Society ◽  
Transitional Objects ◽  
Transitional Phenomena ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
Psychoanalytic Study

Volume 4 (1952–1955) is introduced by the distinguished Canadian analyst, Dominique Scarfone. It contains texts of further BBC broadcasts and papers on Winnicott’s contribution to the psychoanalytic study of psychosis and the meaning of regression in analysis. There are letters to members of the British Society and reviews of contemporary books, including a review, with Masud Khan, of Ronald Fairbairn’s Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality. This volume contains the first published version of ‘Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena’ and the whole case history Holding and Interpretation, first published posthumously in 1972 and then in 1986, but based on detailed case notes for a patient seen 1940–1941 and from 1953, and written between January and July 1955.

Sacred Objects as Vital Objects: Transitional Objects Reconsidered

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Lamothe
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Developmental Theory ◽  
Transitional Object ◽  
Secondary Process ◽  
Transitional Objects ◽  
Sacred Objects ◽  
Identity Continuity

In this essay I argue that the concept of transitional objects in Winnicott's psychoanalytic developmental theory and Rizzuto's perspective regarding God representations in human life, though helpful, is inadequate for understanding and explaining the complex roles, functions, and characteristics of sacred objects and practices in adult life. Transitional objects of infancy and early childhood, which represent a movement from merger to shared existence, from primary process to secondary process thinking, from fantasy to reality, are idiosyncratic and are substantially different from the sacred objects many adults share. I argue that an expanded depiction of Winnicott's concept, transitional object, provides an understanding of the vital role or functions of sacred objects in everyday existence and in interpersonal relations. I suggest that sacred objects and practices in adult life may be conceptualized as vital objects or phenomena when they (a) furnish believers with an unconscious belief in omnipotence for the sake of the construction and organization of subjective and intersubjective experiences and reality; (b) provide a subjective and intersubjective sense of identity, continuity, and cohesion; (e) serve as opportunities for spontaneity and creativity; (d) supply comfort and security for persons and communities during periods of anxiety.

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