The transitional object, according to Winnicott.

What is the transitional object?

Donald Winnicott, pediatrician, and psychoanalyst, coined this concept to refer to those first childhood possessions. Those bears or dolls that, early on, become extremely important objects for the child. They do not want to let go, and it represents a consolation in moments of anguish and loneliness. The object fulfills a companion function when going to sleep, for example, and constitutes a defense against anxiety.

Winnicott has studied these phenomena, especially since through his work as a pediatrician he was in contact with many babies and children who manifested similar behaviors. According to her conceptualization, there is a transition process from an absolute dependence of the baby on his mother, to be able to gradually gain greater capacity for waiting and autonomy. The object and the transitional phenomena are a way to help in this passage.

In this transition, the boy or girl will differentiate himself from the environment and from his mother. He passes from a state of union with the mother to an assimilation of the not-self, that is, of everything that is different from himself. The transitional object helps you to make that discernment. Winnicott describes it as "the journey of the child, from the pure subjective to the objective."

For Winnicott that object: blanket, teddy bear, doll, is a symbol that represents the maternal breast, represents the mother, or what has implied comfort and satisfaction in the first bonding moments. The object is internal and external at the same time. It is not completely internal in that they have an external entity that others can recognize, but at the same time it is internal, the child has transformed it into something more than just a teddy bear, it has a symbolic value.

Transitional phenomena include behaviors seen in very young infants, such as thumb sucking, sucking on blankets or soft objects, cooing and cooing, and humming, among others.

The transitional object is so important and unique to the infant that even washing it represents, according to Winnicott, a break in the infant's experience, which can destroy its value and significance.

For Winnicott, there is an entire intermediate zone of experience, which implies a space of interaction between the interior and the exterior, the self-not self. In this, the issue is broadened and issues such as play and creation are going to be included, and later, artistic appreciation and religion.

The transitional object fulfills an essential function as it enables the acquisition of the ability to accept differences and similarities. It is a vehicle towards objectivity and autonomy.

This object helps in the development to tolerate frustration and to be able to sustain the gradual disillusionment or separation from the mother or the primary figure of care. But for this to happen, and Illusion must first be given that is solid enough for the baby to be able to create and constitute itself through these phenomena. Transitional objects and phenomena belong, for Winnicott, to the realm of illusion, which is the basis of the initiation of experience.

Winnicott's ideas are extremely interesting with regard to child psychology, providing key concepts to understand the first bonds and the process of subjective constitution.

 

 

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