Due impieghi della parola "spazio" in psicoanalisi: Freud e Winnicott

(Two Uses of the Term “Space” in Psychoanalysis: Freud and Winnicott)

Abstract

This essay analyzes two uses of the term “space” in psychoanalysis. The first use goes back to Freud and resides in his originary description of the psyche. In this first Topik, Freud characterizes the psyche as extended in space and distributed over three regions–consciousness, the pre-conscious, and the unconscious. Freud is aware that the psyche is void of spatiality; resorting to the term “space” only fulfills the heuristic function of representing an immaterial object through words. The second psychoanalyst to whom the essay makes reference is Winnicott. Here is the theme of spatiality has to do with the entirely original notion of transitional space. The essay explores the nature of such a concept and shows its epistemological superiority in comparison with Freud’s.