ABSTRACT
It is interesting that the making and erecting of a bridge has been regarded everywhere as a potentially risky and hazardous undertaking and hence is usually accompanied by many rituals and sacrifices. Once a bridge has been rendered secure by a sacrifice, it itself can take on an air of sanctity. The presence of a bridge favours and facilitates diversity but without exclusion or disjunction; there are boundaries but no barriers. The universality of the metaphor of the bridge suggests that humankind has always been aware that all that exists is the result of ever-present dialectical processes. The presence of bridging processes in an individual denotes that a certain amount of psychic differentiation exists and has already developed, which means that there are here conditions that make for movement, change, dialogue, but also conflict. This book looks at a number of psychodynamic concepts, processes, symptoms, and also achievements in terms of the bridge and the bridging functions.
