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Playing and Reality
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What are the origins of creativity and how can we develop it - whether within ourselves or in others? Not only does Playing and Reality address these questions, it also tackles many more that surround the fundamental issue of the individual self and its relationship with the outside world. In this landmark book of twentieth-century psychology, Winnicott shows the reader
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Paperback, 214 pages
Published
August 1st 2005
by Routledge
(first published 1971)
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Start your review of Playing and Reality
Sep 03, 2007
Geoffrey Rhodes
is currently reading it
Fantastic. You really only need to read the first third of this book to get it, but for me, the basic ideas he is putting forward here are really life changing. He is proposing a fundamental addition to the nature of our perception of reality (inside, outside, and playspace between), that I think is particularly fascintating for the artist, the compulsive, and the romantic.
Psychotherapist Dr Judith Edwards has chosen to discuss Playing and Reality by Donald Winnicott on FiveBooks as one of the top five on her subject - Child Psychotherapy, saying that:
"...Winnicott was the people’s psychoanalyst, seeing mother and child as developing together within their relationship. Winnicott’s Playing and Reality, not published till after his death, is a fine and illuminating collection of his major thinking, important not only because of the work with children (just pick any ...more
"...Winnicott was the people’s psychoanalyst, seeing mother and child as developing together within their relationship. Winnicott’s Playing and Reality, not published till after his death, is a fine and illuminating collection of his major thinking, important not only because of the work with children (just pick any ...more
This is another fave of mine. I could never give a good description of what this book is about cause my understanding it is always changing (and lacking at times).
Wonderful way of answering Freudian theories of creativity...engaging essays on their own and also great for the lit. classroom...
"It is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self."
Alison Bechdel'in Annem Sen Misin? grafik romanını okuduktan sonra listeye aldığım, başka şeyleri araya sıkıştırmaktan bir türlü fırsat bulamadığım kitabı nihayetinde okudum. Çabuk okunan bir ritmi yok, fakat bu anlama zorluğundan ileri gelmiyor. Satır satır hazmetme işlemi var. Yavaş ama çok keyifli gitti. Hem kendi anılarım, hem başkalarının anlattıkları birer birer hafızama geri geldi. Ayrıca bir çok davranış biçiminin gerisindeki mantığı anlamakta çok faydalı oldu. Bir çok kere okunabilir.
Mar 29, 2014
Marty Babits
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
psychotherapy
This is one of the most important books on the subject of psychotherapy I've read. Winnicott is a poet. He writes in images and often with a lot of jargon that is thick and hard-going. However, when he makes a discovery, and he makes quite a few, it's like he's journeyed to the center of the Earth and come back to reveal what the foundation beneath the foundation of reality is all about. As a therapist who has been practicing over twenty-five years, he is probably my greatest inspiration. His
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Jan 25, 2018
Justin
added it
While you can probably get parenting advice out of this, it doesn't appear to be have written with this purpose making it rather difficult to do so
Skimmed and picked around more than read (...read more heavily in some parts than others, is the fairest to say).
But considered a milestone work in children's (...and really people in general) psychology by one of my favorite psychologists: Mr. D.W. Winnicott.
He - along with Carl Rogers, Aaron Beck, and Carl Jung - have had as much of an influence on my own psychological predilections, philosophy, and musings as anyone.
While this book is about many aspects of development (primarily on the ...more
But considered a milestone work in children's (...and really people in general) psychology by one of my favorite psychologists: Mr. D.W. Winnicott.
He - along with Carl Rogers, Aaron Beck, and Carl Jung - have had as much of an influence on my own psychological predilections, philosophy, and musings as anyone.
While this book is about many aspects of development (primarily on the ...more
I didn’t get much out of this read, mostly because the book is more focused on therapy than I initially assumed it'd be when I decided to read it. Because it’s been referenced by several creative thinkers, I wanted to read the book, thinking it’d have a thorough philosophical discussion of Winnicott’s fascinating ideas around this liminal space that he argues humans need to occasionally inhabit to maintain their mental health – a space that is somewhere between being utterly self-centred and the
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There were parts of this that resonated with me. There were parts that felt a bit false, or strange. But that's alright. Psychology isn't, and shouldn't be, clockwork. It's nebulous; it's imaginative. Winnicott understood that.
Because the ideas were presented in all their malleability, they weren't ever threatening to me. I remain free to form my own ideas, so I can fully appreciate his.
Some favorite quotes:
"The thing about playing is always the precariousness of the interplay of personal ...more
Because the ideas were presented in all their malleability, they weren't ever threatening to me. I remain free to form my own ideas, so I can fully appreciate his.
Some favorite quotes:
"The thing about playing is always the precariousness of the interplay of personal ...more
A major theme in this book is how we experience the field that exists between outer (objective) reality and our inner (subjective) understanding. Winnicott terms this the "intermediate area of experiencing". Transitional phenomenon, an infant's choosing of an object or action that soothes, is the way an infant explores this area, and becomes increasingly comfortable losing his/her sense of omnipotence. During this stage, Winnicott also stresses the importance of "a good enough mother", that is a
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This book explains what mom's do wrong to cause their kids to end up disordered--I mean--gay and transgendered. It was written in the 70's. So... it was hard for me to take any of it very seriously and I am very confused why the average rating on this book is above 4 stars. And let's say that I entertained the idea that maybe being gay is a disorder caused by bad mothering--even then, this book... is simply not well-written. And for the few interesting theories it proposes, it's 90% subjectivist
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Saffet Murat Tura'nın muhteşem önsözlerinden biriyle başlıyor kitap. Az çok nesne ilişkileri teorisine aşina olanların daha rahat anlayacağı bir kitap olduğuna inanıyorum. Özellikle "Nesne Kullanımı ve Özdeşleşmeler Yoluyla İlişki Kurma" ve "Çocuğun Gelişiminde Annenin Ayna Rolü" bölümlerini çok beğendim ve hem kişisel hem mesleki anlamda çok faydalı bilgiler içerdiğini düşünüyorum.
Kişisel tespit - 1: Ben geçiş nesnesiymişim.
Kişisel tespit - 2: İnsanların hiç kızmadığı biri olmak -eğer ...more
Kişisel tespit - 1: Ben geçiş nesnesiymişim.
Kişisel tespit - 2: İnsanların hiç kızmadığı biri olmak -eğer ...more
"...cultural experiences are in direct continuity with play, the play of those who have not yet heard of games."
I love this book, especially "The Use of an Object" and "The Location of Cultural Experience." So good.
Jan 08, 2008
Lily
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
parents. Definitely.
Recommended to Lily by:
Prof at Hampshire
Shelves:
have-read-and-loved
One of the best books of ALL TIME. This mean is an endearing genius about humans. Wish i could hug him!
It is pretty hard going in places but there are some worthy pieces of wisdom to be found for the persistent reader.
Fascinating juxtapostion of our consciousness and how we develop
GoodReads reviewers, I am disappointed in you. Are none of you going to question this book?
-Who even believes this?
-racial hatred in the USA is more based on mothering than skin colour? How does he know more black mothers ...more
"There is nothing new either inside or outside psychoanalysis in the idea that men and women have a 'predisposition towards bisexuality'." (p.72)
-Who even believes this?
"Incalculable is the envy of the white bottle-fed population of the black people who are mostly, I believe, breast-fed" (p.142)
-racial hatred in the USA is more based on mothering than skin colour? How does he know more black mothers ...more
Donald Woods Winnicott was one of the most influential personalities in the British psychoanalytical field, developing several theories that are still referred to even today. He died in 1971 after a 50-year long career as a paediatrician and psychoanalyst and after having treated more than 20.000 children.
Playing and Reality was his last book; it is a collection of essays, very readable, not too academic, that offer an overview of his theories regarding human development and behavior. The focus ...more
Playing and Reality was his last book; it is a collection of essays, very readable, not too academic, that offer an overview of his theories regarding human development and behavior. The focus ...more
"The searching can come only from desultory formless functioning, or perhaps from rudimentary playing, as if in a neutral zone. . . . This if reflected back, but only if reflected back, becomes part of the organized individual personality, and eventually this in summation makes the individual to be, to be found."
A series of excursions building on the idea of the transitional area, between being and doing, female and male, subject and object, projection and perception, unity and separation. The ...more
A series of excursions building on the idea of the transitional area, between being and doing, female and male, subject and object, projection and perception, unity and separation. The ...more
Çok akıcı olmayan bir dile sahip olsa da geçiş nesnesi kavramı ile derinden etkiledi. Oyun yoluyla terapötik iletişimin nasıl kurulabileceği ile ilgili çok besleyici bilgiler sunan bir kitap. Aynı zamanda Francis Bacon'un resimleri ile açıklayıp zenginleştirdiği kısımlar çok dikkat çekici idi. Kesinlikle okunmalı!
Psychoanalytic take on subject/object metaphysics - wedging open the razor divide between subject and object, me and not-me, into a wide, paradoxical, territory of infinite games spanning birth to death and all in between.
An excellent book for getting an idea of such concepts as transitional objects, transitional phenomena (and how they lead to the development of a cultural sense), and the importance of the environment in the therapeutic setting.
In this book, Winnicott developed many ideas about the transitional experiences.
Phenomenal.
By the time we become parents, we have forgotten the importance and meaning of playing. Here is a book that helps you remember the value and opportunities playing provides our children.
This collection of essays takles a number of issues and topics which are not easily summarised nor understood. Some of them spoke to me, like the 'good enough mother', the importance of the transitional objectsa and others. DWW also offers some excellent insights from his therapeutic work, the fact that the therapist should let the client arrive at interpretations by himself/herself rather than rushing to them as part of the desire to prove how good the therapist is. Another interesting insight
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I should try to figure out why I am not into the genre of psychology-academic-writing even when they attempt to formulate theoretical statements/observations....Basically the book plays with the idea of playing and argues it creates a third space in which individuals/infants is able to develop cognitive association and dissociation simultaneously. In the social theory side, it tries to work on the arena of "cultural experiences" opened up by Freud, although as a psychiatrist rather than social
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Sep 27, 2018
Mark Feltskog
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
professional-development
Dr. Winnicott is something of a legend in his field, so I've wanted for some time to read him. Unfortunately, his books rarely turn up used, and they've tended to go in and out of print, so they have been pricey when available. That said, I just checked Amazon and found that most of his work is in print again, and available in trade paperback.
Now for the skewed nature of my three-star review. This is a book, I think, for professional practitioners. Winnicott was, I was surprised to see, ...more
Now for the skewed nature of my three-star review. This is a book, I think, for professional practitioners. Winnicott was, I was surprised to see, ...more
“A criança joga (brinca), para expressar agressão, adquirir experiência, controlar ansiedades, estabelecer contatos sociais como integração da personalidade e por prazer.”
(Winnicott)
(Winnicott)
Jun 11, 2013
Sergio Gomes
added it
In this books, Winnicott present some of his theories about playing and criativiness. Talk about the face of mother as a mirror to babies and the transicional objects.
"The patient posed the question: 'When I am walking up on that pink cloud, is that my imagination enriching life or is it this thing that you are calling fantasying which happens when I am doing nothing and which makes me feel that I do not exist?'"
Winnicott's answer involves soggy sucky blankies, squiggle games, spit bubbles, fist-in-mouth union, bunny rabbits, the mother in the mirror, smelly soft toys, and it all leads somehow to hamlet's "to be or not to be" speech, but i am more likely to ...more
Winnicott's answer involves soggy sucky blankies, squiggle games, spit bubbles, fist-in-mouth union, bunny rabbits, the mother in the mirror, smelly soft toys, and it all leads somehow to hamlet's "to be or not to be" speech, but i am more likely to ...more
Jun 23, 2010
Elizabeth
added it
need to read again
Some thoughtful stuff both about the analytic attitude and how relationships inform who we are and how we grow. Additionally, I enjoyed the chapter on cultural experiences. While I believe Winnicott means cultural experiences in terms of the art, it's interesting to think of culture in terms of race, class, gender etc. as a place of play and a place that involves the in-between space necessary for cultural exploration.
Jun 06, 2012
Erik Graff
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
parents
Recommended to Erik by:
Robert Neale?
Shelves:
psychology
This was assigned reading at Union Theological Seminary, but I don't recall if I read it for Dr. Bell's course in Development Psychology or for a course I took with Robert Neale, a professor who had published in the field of the psychology of play. In any case, it didn't make very much of an impression on me, my interest in children having been something which only came into play much later in life.
I won't forget it.
Uncut Winnicott turns out to be a little much for me. I need an annotated version.
Apr 09, 2011
Academic Eric
marked it as want-to-read-if
Listed in the Bibliography on Play from The Art of Play by Adam Blatner.
Although so,e parts were a little confusing to me, I enjoyed it a lot! :)
Feb 12, 2019
Zeljko
added it
Obviously written for professionals well acquainted with the theme.
Didn't manage to get vary far into this one. Unfinished!
the most terrible book ive ever read
Nov 18, 2010
Michael
added it
fantastic
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“It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.”
—
39 likes
“The child is alone only in the presence of someone.”
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9 likes
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