Theory D.V. Winnicott
The first possession by the child of an external inanimate but extremely significant object, usually a small soft toy, which is used by the infant in the process of emotional separation from the primary object of love under stress, often also at bedtime (Winnicott, 1954). transition object should have a characteristic odor and cause sensations reminiscent of the child’s mother. Such an object creates an illusion of comfort for the infant, comparable to the calming effect of the mother (in her absence at the moment). The transitional object, being under the constant control of the baby who is beginning to walk, helps him, in the absence of his mother, to achieve the necessary degree of independence. And although a child already at the age of two to four years refuses objects that play the role of a transitional object, they continue to be associated with a situation of comfort later.
Winnicott defined the totality of transitional phenomena more broadly. He also included sounds — baby talk or «singing» before falling asleep, as well as various material objects, only partially perceived as belonging to external reality. In later periods of life, such sounds, objects and other objects are displaced from the primary object of love and, acting as transitional hypercathectated and over-symbolized, begin to function as substitutes for the mother object. Transitional phenomena provide the child with the realization of a certain self-sufficiency and counteract feelings associated with the loss of the object and loneliness, abandonment and uselessness. In addition, they are an indicator of the effectiveness of the ego’s attempts to resolve the object relations dilemma, attempts to maintain the illusions of a loving, caring and soothing mother.
Derivatives of the original transitional objects can be found in early adolescence (Downey, 1978). At this age, transitional object phenomena are presented in the form of typical teenage games, interest in music, fashionable clothes, cinema, immersion in «important» types of creative activity that quickly replace each other.
These objects or experiences give rise to the illusion of symbiosis with the mother during the period of development when the representatives of the Self and objects are separated from each other and only partially differentiated. Transitional objects and phenomena are perceived simultaneously as “mine” and as “not mine”, or vice versa — as “not mine” and as “not mine”. They represent a kind of crystallization of what is denoted by the term transition process (Rose, 1978), that is, a process aimed at establishing a dynamic balance between a relatively stable Self, on the one hand, and a changing reality, on the other. This process can also be considered as a kind of area of intersection of the inner and outer worlds (transition area according to Winnicott) or mutual overlapping of primary and secondary processes. Externally, the transitional process manifests itself in the form of transitional objects and phenomena. The latter can act as psychic organizers (Metcalf and Spitz, 1978) of the separation-individuation process; they can significantly facilitate the adaptation of the child to new conditions when he experiences ambivalent feelings in relation to the mother. They can also more clearly delineate the connections between the Self Self and the outside world, and finally, they can provide important reinforcement for body image, the most fragile structure that can be regressed under stress and during sleep.
If transitional objects become necessary, often as a result of insufficiently good motherhood, they take on the quality of a fetish. Losing their «healthy» properties that contribute to the development of the individual, they become «shreds» (Greenacre, 1969, 1970) of the Self, I, body image. At the same time, the question of pathological transitional objects or phenomena remains open. Some authors limit the theoretical concept of transitional objects to the period after the last phase of separation-individuation according to Mahler, that is, the segment of development “on the way to the permanence of objects”. If transitional objects and phenomena persist after this time, they inevitably become fetishes. Winnicott’s concept, however, is broader; it is difficult to assess. There is no doubt that in many children transitional objects and phenomena persist during the first ten years of life. Nevertheless, this concept should not be applied too broadly and treat symbolic objects as transitional.