The transitional space —transitional space or potential space— is one of Donald Winnicott's most original and fruitful concepts, formulated throughout his clinical work and especially synthesized in Playing and Reality (1971).
Definition: an intermediate psychic zone between the individual's subjective internal world and the objective external world shared with others. Neither completely fantasy nor completely reality. It is the territory of play —when a child uses a stick as a horse, that stick is neither just a stick nor just a horse: it is stick-horse in the transitional space—.
Transitional objects: the baby constructs this space through objects it adopts between 6 months and 2 years of age —teddy bear, blanket, pacifier, favorite toy—. These objects are not simply 'things it likes': they are special psychic objects that allow it to tolerate maternal absence by building symbolic continuity between fusion and separation.
The adult transitional space: in adult life, this space manifests as the capacity for play —art, creativity, religion, profound science, humor, healthy sexual intimacy—. Everything that is simultaneously real and symbolic lives in the transitional space. Adult psychic health largely depends on the ability to inhabit this space fluidly.
When it is damaged: severe early trauma, especially when it includes maternal intrusion or extreme unpredictability, damages the construction of the transitional space. The adult person may have difficulty with creativity, with free imagination, with sexual intimacy without tension, with spirituality without fanaticism. They live in a rigid alternation between fantasy and reality without symbolic mediation.
Clinical importance: effective psychotherapy itself creates a transitional space —the consulting room is 'both real and symbolic', the therapist is 'both real and an internal figure'—. It is there that profound transformation can occur. Family Constellations also operate in this space: representatives are 'both real people and symbolic representations' of the client's clan.
Bibliography
- Reality and Game — Donald Winnicott. Gedisa, 1971 (orig. English 1971).
These books are in the reference library that nourishes Constelando el Origen.
Related terms
Donald Winnicott
British pediatrician and psychoanalyst (1896-1971). A pioneer in the study of the mother-baby relationship. He formulated fundamental concepts: good-enough mother, transitional space, false self.
See entryFalse self vs. true self (Winnicott)
Winnicott's concept: when the caregiver does not respond to the child's authentic self, the child develops an adaptive 'false self'. The true self remains silenced, accessible only in special moments of play or therapy.
See entryKnowing field (morphic field)
A shared information space that allows representatives without prior information to perceive the real dynamics of the family system.
See entryIFS — Internal Family Systems
Richard Schwartz's therapeutic model: working with the internal 'parts' of the psyche as if they were an inner family, mediated by the adult Self.
See entryA session thatnameswhat hurts
If you recognize this dynamic in your own history, a Family Constellation can reveal where it comes from and what movement brings it into order. Daniela accompanies each case with respect.
Sessions in Spanish only