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Object Relations
February 13, 2023 @ 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm, Wyman Classroom
2-Year Certificate Program (2YCP)
2022-23, 3rd Term — Mondays, 6:30-7:45pm
Katherine Weissbourd, PhD
View Whole Syllabus
February 13, 2023 — Donald W. Winnicott: The good enough mother and the transitional object
[34 pages]
Unlike Klein, Winnicott based his writing on his extensive experience working with mothers and children together. He was aware that the mother’s actions had a significant impact on the developing child. In a challenge to Klein, he introduced the important role of the actual mother for the child’s early sense of self.
Winnicott, D.W. (1971). Chapter 1: “Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena” in Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock Publications, pp1-25
Read pages 1-13 only.
Winnicott, D.W. (1971). Chapter 6: “The Use of an Object and Relating Through Identifications” in Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock Publications, pp86-94
Aguayo, J. (2018) D.W. Winnicott, Melanie Klein, and W.R. Bion: The Controversy Over the Nature of the External Object—Holding and Container/Contained (1941-1967). Psychoanalytic Quarterly 87:767-807
Read pages 767-778 only (up to Winnicott’s Further Expatriation).
Point of focus: Winnicott begins to address how the other impacts our unconscious thoughts and fantasies. The caregiving other can create a space in which there are shared transitional experiences, and can also be a constant presence that tolerates anger and aggression. In our clinical work we take on both these roles. Can you think of ways that you and your patients have created transitional objects and experiences? In what ways have you “survived” their anger?
Optional Reading
Kanter, J. (2004) “Let’s Never Ask Him What to Do”: Clare Britton’s Transformative Impact on Donald Winnicott. American Imago 61:457-481
