Transitional objects, pre-sleep rituals, and psychopathology

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charla Markt ◽  
Martin Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Objects

D. W. Winnicott, André Green, and Rosemary Dinnage: Some Thoughts on the Interplay of Transitional Objects and Object Destruction

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-289
Author(s):  
David G. Kitron
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Theory ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Transitional Objects ◽  
Relative Independence ◽  
Total Dependence ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Use Of An Object

In this paper, the author attempts to arrive at a comprehensive outline of Winnicott's developmental theory. This theory encompasses the infant's emergence from total dependence and subject/object merging to what the author refers to as relative independence and relative subject/object separation (in Winnicott's words, “separation that is a not a separation but a form of union” [1971a, p. 98]). This conceptualization is based mainly on an amalgam of Winnicott's two well-known papers, on transitional objects and phenomena (1953) and on the use of an object (1969). The author also refers to André Green's notions of the importance of the negative and of the “dead mother” in reference to Winnicott's work. To demonstrate the clinical implications of the paper, the author discusses in detail the case of Rosemary Dinnage, as described by both Winnicott and Green and as reported directly by herself.

Responding Emotionally to Fiction

2020 ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
Susan James
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Objects ◽  
The Real ◽  
Anna Karenina ◽  
Complex Skill ◽  
Philosophical Understanding

Contemporary analytical philosophers ask why we respond emotionally to characters we believe to be fictional. Why, for example, do we grieve for Anna Karenina? To understand this problem it is helpful to turn to Spinoza, who argues that the ability to keep our emotions in line with our beliefs is a complex skill. Rather than asking why we depart from it in the case of fictions, we need to begin by considering how we acquire it in the first place. Spinoza also considers the value of this skill. In his account, fictions function rather like Winnicott’s transitional objects. They enable us to negotiate the boundary between the real and the imaginary in a way that contributes to our philosophical understanding and increases our capacity to live together.

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