Winnicott and the (un)integrated self

Caught on the surface: Tustin on autistic experience

“…If these thoughts are combined with Freud’s idea that, subjectively speaking, the self initially “comprises everything” ( Freud, 1930 , 67), we end up with the view that, according to Freud, the sense of surface is initially all there is. That is to say, while still “vertically unintegrated” and hence confined to the present moment (see Taipale, 2023c ), the infant’s experience is fully exhausted by the current tactile “feel,” without the latter being as yet arranged as an experience of an individual over and against an object.…”

“…Importantly, if the need is satisfied without too grand a delay, what is realized is not just the need but also the nascent sense of self that was given rise by the need. In this sense, moments of need-fulfilment are at once moments of self-realization (see Taipale, 2023c ). Assuming good-enough care, such moments are countlessly repeated during the first weeks of the infant’s extrauterine life, and this gradually stabilizes their sense of self.…”