ABSTRACT
Transitional phenomena are inextricably linked with playing and creativity. Developmentally, transitional phenomena occur from the beginning, even before birth, in relation to the mother–infant dyad. The ego-relatedness of the mother–infant relationship, where being, creativity, unintegration, and cultural experiences are located, is seen by Donald W. Winnicott as "the stuff out of which friendship is made". The concept of Winnicott’s that there is never separation, only the threat of separation, is central to the concept of transitional phenomena because the transitional space both separates and brings together emotionally and mentally. He speculates that the experience of transitional phenomena that are highly satisfactory could be thought of in terms of ecstasy or “ego orgasm”. The transitional object is a symbol, from the observer’s point of view, of an aspect of the infant’s experience of his environment. Thus the transitional object indicates a transitional stage of development, from object-relating to use of an object.
