Chapter 7 Donald Winnicott

Development of true self Development of false self Mother / Infant unit FAILURE SUCCESS Father Development of true self Development of false self primary maternal preoccupation Impingements / appropriate failure good-enough mothering holding / stage of dependence rhythms of unintegration and integration inner reality transitional space and objects capacity to be alone – personhood +

Winnicott’s Focus Relationship between mother and infant Real mother or primary caregiver Influences extent to which become a person Influences stability of person Psychological birth and personhood No “infant”: only mother and infant Initial state of omnipotence Hallucinatory relationship to the world Intact grandiosity and wish fulfilment

Impingement and Appropriate Failure Mother makes demands that infant cannot meet If persistent, infant disturbed out of state of being Results: weak ego disintegrates Appropriate failure Need degree separation for infant to develop Failure must occur in specific parameters Need environment sensitive to infant’s experience

Un-integration to Integration Initially primary un-integration (total dependence) No support = lack of integration = pathology Integration Developmental achievement Result of maternal ego support

Holding 3 Stages of Holding Quality of mother’s provision of infant care Fundamental influence on selfhood actualisation Based upon empathy, not understanding 3 Stages of Holding Absolute dependence Relative dependence Approaching independence

Primary Maternal Preoccupation From last weeks of pregnancy to days after birth Form a psychological oneness Provides containment Can feel infant’s body-needs and later ego-needs It is state of illness for mother (psychosis) Mother must be psychologically healthy

Role of Father Provides strong containment of environment Allows mother to relax psychological boundaries Parents form parental dyad which is the infant’s macro containment

Good-Enough Mothering Cannot have near perfect attunement indefinitely Infant needs to separate as entity Need appropriate failure Good-enough mothering Will fail infant appropriately to enhance growth Slowly disillusions to prevent disintegration Does not challenge / disrupt omnipotence

Transitional Phenomena Need capacity to be alone to develop creative capacity and symbolic thought. Transitional space Space available for child to be alone while safe Child is neither “me” nor “not me” Results in sense of self and confidence Transitional object First object that’s both “me” and “not me” Contrasting impulses: love and destroy Bridges phantasy and reality The first rudimentary symbol formation

True Self and False Self Experiencing the body (id needs) Body integrity (emotional lives) False self Need degree of false self functioning to channel instinctual life Protects true self by conforming to social norms Protects from impingements and failing environment

Continuum of false self development PATHOLOGICAL NORMALITY False self allows smooth passage in world False self protects true self from harm False self acts as if real person

Critiques of Winnicott Writing style Difficult to find adherence to fundamental psychoanalytic concepts Lacks theoretical rigour