Transitional objects (Psychology) (Topical Term)

Work cat.: The solace paradigm: an eclectic search for psychological immunity, 1987 (Solacing objects; attachment objects; transitional objects)

Campbell psych. dict.

Kaplan psych., 4th ed.: p. 560 ("Patients in psychotherapy may develop transitional object-like attachments at any age that fulfill ... and play a useful supporting role in the psychotherapeutic process")

Penguin dict. psych. ("an object used by a child as a comforter ... there is considerable emotional attachment invested in the object. Term derives from psychoanalytic theory where the object is viewed as a psych. bridge allowing the child to make the transition from primitive narcissism to mature emotional attachment to others")

MESH; NIH; Baker encyc. psych.; Psych. abst.; Thes. psych. ind. terms; Chaplin dict. psych.; Eysenck encyc. psych.; Harriman encyc. psych.; Harre & Lamb encyc. dict. psych.; Evans psych.; English comp. dict. psych.

Here are entered works on objects, such as a child's security blanket, which act as comforting agents and in which considerable emotional attachment is invested.