The birth of reality: psychoanalytic developmental considerations

In this article, utilizing an emended version of Winnicott's notion of transitional objects and recent parent-infant research, the author offers a perspective on the development of individuals' experience of being alive and real in relation to objects and persons. Primary transitional objects, which represent parent-infant interactions, facilitate the infant's transition from early undifferentiated, bodily, and global experiences of being real and alive to the infant's yoking and extending these subjective organizations to recognized not-me objects. Secondary transitional objects make their appearance when the child begins to acquire the capacities for self-reflexivity, symbolization, and language. These objects provide the child with opportunities to gain confidence and courage in extending, yoking, and making use of his/her subjective experiences of being alive and real in relation to cultural symbols and rituals. More importantly, secondary transitional objects are paths toward mutual recognition, acceptance, and sharing experiences of being alive and real.