Between Symbiosis and Separateness: A New Psychic Space
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Togetherness, although it constitutes an extremely close encounter between partners, remains capable of preserving the separateness of its constituent elements, and may even regulate the degree of cohesion and the degree of distinctness within the partnership. Such an encounter occurs between mother and infant and may give rise to a kind of 'mental space' between them, from which triadic object relations may also emerge. A dynamic process of this kind can preserve the initial narcissism. By contrast, symbiosis constitutes a pathological, bilateral process.
Author: Noga Levin Keini
Institution: Ashkelon Academic College
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225784623