On teaching Winnicott: the charms and challenges of Winnicott's concepts

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-59
Author(s):  
Elisha Davar
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Object ◽  
Transitional Space ◽  
False Self ◽  
Transitional Phenomena ◽  
Developmental Framework ◽  
Style Of Writing

This article examines the responses of students on being introduced to several of Winnicott's major concepts: transitional space, illusion, good enough mothering, true and false self. Building on Ogden's idea that Winnicott's style of writing and form of presentation is inseparable from the ideas he wishes to convey, this article shows how students evolved a developmental framework for themselves with the aid of Winnicott's theory. The new theory itself becomes a transitional object for further use and elaboration. Various examples of student's responses to the paper on transitional phenomena are cited, in addition to an examination of their responses to the application of transitional theory to organisations.

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.

Migration as a Transitional Space and Group Analysis

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seda Sengun
Keyword(s):  
Patient Group ◽  
Therapy Group ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Transitional Object ◽  
Transitional Space ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
The Uk

What happens in the psyche of the person who migrates? How is the balance between what is objectively perceived and what is subjectively conceived of restored? What factors impinge on this process? Can group analysis help with the transition or lack of it? Is the significance of the therapy group different from any other patient group? These are questions arising from my own personal experiences of being a foreigner in the UK, and from the experiences of running groups with immigrants. I would like to explore these issues, and perhaps speculate, on the basis of Winnicott's ideas of a transitional object and playing and reality. In the second part of the article I will relate these ideas to group analysis.

From the transitional space to the network of transitional phenomena

2020 ◽  
pp. 46-49
Author(s):  
Jean-Paul Matot
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Space ◽  
Transitional Phenomena

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.

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.

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.

Co-parent therapy and the parenting plan as transitional phenomena: working psychoanalytically with high-conflict separating and divorcing couples

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-26
Author(s):  
Dana Iscoff
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Psychological Development ◽  
Transitional Object ◽  
Entire Family ◽  
Transitional Phenomena ◽  
High Conflict ◽  
Defensive Projection ◽  
Parent Therapy ◽  
Parenting Plan

High-conflict separating and divorcing couples often struggle with unconscious conflicts that are projected onto arguments about the children resulting in interminable disputes. Approaches that primarily emphasise parenting and communication skills, without a more in-depth focus, are insufficient to address these complicated dynamics. In contrast, I offer a model of psychoanalytic co-parent therapy that enables the promotion of containment, reduces splitting, destructive aggression, and defensive projection, helps the partners become more psychologically separate, and allows access to feelings of loss. A key component of this model is the development of the parenting plan, a shared agreement about coparenting the children that functions on both a conscious and unconscious level. The therapist works with high-conflict couples to create the parenting plan, whilst at the same time addressing the underlying psychological vulnerabilities. The parenting plan may serve as a type of transitional object for the couple, facilitating their psychological development, and aiding in their transition from a separating or divorcing couple to a co-parent couple. This process can be internalised, communicated to the children, create less conflict, mitigate the enduring impact of the loss, and benefit the entire family.

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