"Is it me, or isn't it?"--transplanted organs and their donors as transitional objects

American Journal of Psychoanalysis
Lutz Goetzmann

Abstract

There are indications in psychosomatic transplant literature that the "transitional space" (in the D.W. Winnicott's sense) plays an important part in the psychic integration of an transplanted organ or its donor. The present case study is based on a semi-standard textbook interview carried out in the course of a qualitative research program with 20 male and female patients following a lung transplant. Two transcribed passages in the text, which relate to the transplanted organ and its donor, were interpreted from the point of view of Winnicott's "transitional phenomenon" model. The case study made it clear that, even years after a lung transplant, the patient experiences the organ and donor as transitional objects. The donor, as perceived by the patient, is a living, omnipotent person who is really present and to whom the recipient attributes ideal (personality) qualities. The transplanted lung, however, insofar as a psychosomatic integration of the organ has only partially succeeded, remains in the possession of both the donor and the recipient. The donor, as a typical transitional object, performs a creative function in helping the patient to cope with everyday life. The employment of the donor or the transplanted organ as "t...Continue Reading

Citations

Aug 30, 2008·American Journal of Psychoanalysis·Oliver DeckerMerve Winter
Mar 23, 2010·Disability and Rehabilitation·Gerald UllrichWolfgang Schulz
May 7, 2014·Pulmonary Medicine·T O HircheUNKNOWN ECORN-CF Study Group
Oct 12, 2010·The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry·Marina Vamos
Mar 7, 2014·Progress in Transplantation : Official Publication, North American Transplant Coordinators Organization ... [et Al.]·Gabriela Schmid-MohlerRebecca Spirig
Feb 11, 2012·The International Journal of Psycho-analysis·Marius NeukomLutz Goetzmann
Jun 21, 2018·European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing : Journal of the Working Group on Cardiovascular Nursing of the European Society of Cardiology·Ana M Palmar-SantosMonserrat Pulido-Fuentes
Sep 28, 2012·Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy·Jacques Quintin
Dec 20, 2015·Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM·Giorgina Barbara PiccoliUNKNOWN Working group of the students of the Torino Medical School
Apr 10, 2015·Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation·Paula C Zimbrean

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