title: Smoking as a transitional object.
abstract: An analysis of smoking during adolescence using Winnicott's concepts of transitional object, transitional phenomena and intermediate area can illuminate how an individual manages the relations between the outer objective world and the inner world of subjective experience. Viewing smoking as a transitional phenomenon can yield diagnostic and therapeutic information and provide a better understanding of the psychological functions of smoking and the difficulties involved in giving it up.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010553:Personality Development; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012907:Smoking; D012933:Social Identification