title: Medication and transitional phenomena.
abstract: Winnicott's concept of transitional phenomena is employed as a means of further understanding the effect of medicine and the medication-giving process itself. Particular facets examined include the "soothing" function of medication, the placebo effect, and medication compliance, as well as countertransference difficulties encountered in administering the medicine. Medication as a transitional object is viewed largely as a creation along the self-object interface, with the "potential space" between patient and therapist recapitulating aspects of the original dyad. This usage of medicine as a transitional object, or its ultimate abandonment as such, is presented in terms of the vicissitudes of internal object relations, with clinical case examples to clarify particular issues.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003379:Countertransference; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D009769:Object Attachment; D010919:Placebos; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014167:Transference, Psychology
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs