The Transitional Phenomenon Revisited

Coppolillo, Henry P.

doi:10.1016/s0002-7138(09)62259-7

Cited by 42 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Through withdrawal, passivity, attempts at control, hostility, or through superficial cooperation, patients (and therapists) find many avenues through which they can hold themselves back from joining. Coppolilo (1976) adds that it is precisely the transitional mode of experiencing the transference that tempers the patient's sense of danger of being overwhelmed by its instinctual charge. This tempering thereby comes to support the therapeutic joining between patient and therapist.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Transitional relatedness and psychotherapeutic growth.

Last¹

1988

Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The value of Winnicotf s concept of transitional phenomena has been explored in terms of understanding change within the psychotherapeutic process. Therapists must be alert to factors that provide a nurturant milieu for the unfolding of the process, which may necessitate a stage in treatment in which the therapist functions primarily as "being with" the patient (empathic matching) as opposed to "doing to" (interpreting).Psychotherapists often have the experience with particular patients of a sense of synchrony in the treatment. There is a sense of truly working together where one does not consciously have to formulate interpretations. The words seem to flow naturally. The march of time seems to stop. Feeling tones and ideas seem to almost float in the office. Patient and therapist are absorbed in the moment of the transference, of the play, or of the dream. It is as if both have temporarily merged in the therapeutic work. There is a sense of common purpose and the treatment proceeds "on course." We see changes in the patient's behavior, thinking, and feelings in areas of focus as well as in areas only seemingly peripheral to the focus.Unfortunately we also have the experience where "things don't seem to go right." There is a sense of awkwardness. The focus seems to get lost down side alleyways. We find ourselves falling into the trap of trying to "convince" the patient instead of working toward understanding, largely because our own understanding of the patient has become unclear. We no longer have a sense of being with Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Jeffrey M. Last,

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coppolilo (1976) adds that it is precisely the transitional mode of experiencing the transference that tempers the patient’s sense of danger of being overwhelmed by its instinctual charge. This tempering thereby comes to support the therapeutic joining between patient and therapist.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitional relatedness and psychotherapeutic growth.

Last¹

1988

Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…101-105). The child's relationship to some special symbolic object-a blanket or teddy bear, a familiar tune or poem-thus alleviates their anxiety (Passman 1987;Coppolillo 1977;Wallendorf and Arnould 1988). Its repetitive availability, its capacity for immediate citation, comforts the child.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Metastases of Myth: Legal Images as Transitional Phenomena

Manderson

2015

Law Critique

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In times of transition and transformation, legal images metastasize. This idea can be usefully related both to Winnicott's theory of transitional objects and Barthes' theory of myth. But each tell only part of the full story. Barthes fails to fully account for the stabilizing effect of the reassuring signifier; Winnicott fails to fully account for the ideological adaptability-and implications-of the shifting signified. The legal image unites the iterability of the signifier and the polysemy of the signified, harnessing the affective intensity of the former to the cultural mobility of the latter. In this article, I propose to illustrate this insight by reflecting on two notable images of law that appeared at a moment of profound legal transformation, at the dawn of the early modern era. The images of 'blind justice' and 'sol justitiae' which the article discusses are both 'transitional myths', facilitating through modes of affect a legal journey into uncharted territory. Paying attention to these images and above all to their transformation over time, we can observe not only the process of legal transition at work, but the function of the image in its authorization and modalization.Keywords Blind justice Á Law and art Á Law and the image Á Myth Á Transitional objects Myth, Image, and Transitional PhenomenaIn times of transition and transformation, legal images metastasize. This process, simultaneously one of movement and sameness, may properly be analyzed under the rubric of myth, but illustrates an important aspect which Roland Barthes, in his

show abstract

“…A notable exception was Coppolillo's (1967) exploration of the "maturational potential" of the early transitional object stage—an article curiously not mentioned by Winnicott in his last summary of promising new directions for the transitional object concept (1971c, p. xiii); though Winnicott knew about this article (H. P. Coppolillo, personal communication, July 1972), he may have felt that it was wrong or that it was too far ahead of its time. Indeed, a careful reading of Playing and Reality (Winnicott, 1971c) demonstrates, I believe, a definite skittishness on Winnicott's part about moving away from "accepted theory" (Winnicott, 1953/1971d, p. 9).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Vision and separation: Between mother and baby.

Horton¹

1993

Psychoanalytic Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This book was written by a psychiatrist-psychoanalyst and is intended mainly for classical Freudian psychoanalysts with a philosophical bent. Topics covered include the "preeminent" role of the "mother's face" in development (pp. 9, 109), transitional object attachment, attachment theory in general, the sense of self and other, philosophy, the Bible, consciousness, existentialism, religion, symbol formation, linguistics, introjection, illusion, aspects of the Oedipus complex, metaphor, and the father's role in development. The author's basic thesis is that, somehow, the mother's face becomes the "guiding light of [the baby's] mind" (p. 12).According to Wright, the mother's face, particularly her smile, is the baby's first transitional object (p. 108), and attachment behavior throughout life can be traced back to this introject. This is explained with reference (p. xv) to only two of Winnicott's articles and without citations of a pertinent and extensive transitional object literature that has developed since the early 1970s. I address the author's scholarship and the many problems with his thesis. First, however, I make some overview comments pertaining to scholarship issues and to tone and style not specific to the transitional object concept.The author's theory is about the face, the baby's view of the face and its parts, and how this affects emotional development throughout life. To Wright, classical psychoanalysis has nothing to say on the matter: He "noted the almost complete absence of the face in psychoanalytic theory" (p. 333). He asks, "Is there not a gap in psychoanalytic theory, even present-day theory, where the face should be? Are those thick lips and large mouth [referring to the cortical homunculus, p. 1] really all there is to the human face?" (p. 2). In his "search of the psychoanalytic indexes," it was remarkable how few entries could be found under face; he found a "plethora of references to mouth, breast, penis, vagina" but little or nothing under face (p. 4).

show abstract

The Transitional Phenomenon Revisited

Cited by 42 publications

References 3 publications

Transitional relatedness and psychotherapeutic growth.

Transitional relatedness and psychotherapeutic growth.

The Metastases of Myth: Legal Images as Transitional Phenomena

Review of Vision and separation: Between mother and baby.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About