ABSTRACT
In his notion of potential space and the importance of play, Donald Winnicott provides people with a way of thinking about the conditions and circumstances that foster a whole-hearted, authentic, and creative approach to life. Viewing creativity as a fundamental and psychologically skilful response to the gap between self and the environment, Winnicott shows how all aspects of human expression, from our most ordinary experiences of being a person in the world to our boldest creative outputs, are prefigured in the earliest psychological experiences of childhood. The notion of paradox is central to Winnicott's theory of psychological development. For Winnicott, if the potential space is not sustained due to a resolution of the paradox of separate and not-separate, it "leads to a defense organisation which in the adult one can encounter as true and false self organisation". Cook-Greuter makes a distinction between lateral and vertical development, both of which are important.
