Transitional phenomena in the treatment of a psychotic adolescent

Abstract

The clinical history and the initial phase of the psychotherapy of a hospitalized psychotic adolescent are presented to demonstrate the loss of "transitional capabilities" coinciding with the onset of a psychotic regression and their subsequent restoration as the patient reemerged from overt psychosis. Winnicott's concept of transitional phenomena is reexamined, highlighting its function in the capacity for illusion, its internalization as psychic structure, and its interpersonal dimension in the establishment of a "transitional mode of relatedness" within the psychotherapeutic situation.