ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author begins with two questions: what was it about D. W. Winnicott that made the exploration of the transitional area inevitable, and made his use of it clinically productive? It was her attempt to answer these questions that resulted in the contribution that followed, given with a very few alterations. The author suggests that the answers have to be looked for not simply in a study of the development of D. W. W.'s ideas as he went along, but essentially in the kind of personality that was functioning behind them. D. W. W. could be excited by other people's ideas, but could use them and build on them only after they had been through the refinery of his own experience. In his clinical work D. W. W. made it his aim to enter into every situation undefended by his knowledge, so that he could be as exposed as possible to the impact of the situation itself.
