ABSTRACT
The theoretical concepts of the third and thirdness have been, in recent years, the subject of numerous formulations from a variety of theoretical perspectives and have been applied to a host of clinical, developmental, pathological, and social realms of concern the three major applications of the concept of the third are delineated in the following way. First, the developmental third includes the processes and structures through which the child moves from dyadic to triadic relating, the prime exemplar of which is the oedipal configuration. Second, the concept of the relational third refers to the unique configuration in which self and other combine in every relationship. Third, the concept of the cultural third designates the existence. Trauma is made by its quality of overwhelming the individual's capacity to protect oneself from destruction. We have all come to recognize that the most basic necessity for psychic aliveness in the aftermath of atrocity is the active witnessing presence of an other.
