Understanding of Holding Environment Through the Trajectory of Donald Woods Winnicott

Abstract

Personal life and achievements are the process and result of a person’s past, present, and future interacting with each other. In this regard, if one fully understands the life and background of the person who developed the theory of psychoanalysis, one can understand and use the theory more appropriately. The holding environment theory developed by Donald Woods Winnicott is useful for understanding the process by which infants grow healthy under the care of a mother who is good enough. In this paper, the background of the birth of the holding environment theory is reviewed based on Winnicott’s developmental background and marital life. He grew up with a holding environment from good enough ‘multiple mothers’. Born with excellent athletic ability and musical talent, he was more curious than anyone else and particularly active in discovering new things. After the unhappy first marriage, Claire Britton’s second marriage was happy academically and personally. Claire was a fellow paediatric psychoanalyst who published Winnicott’s research and theories after his death. Psychoanalysis or psychotherapy itself can be a holding environment, and the holding environment theory can be applied to various fields in the digital era.