Can I Speak to the Monster? The Transformative Power of Therapeutic Spaces and Transitional Objects: A Jungian Perspective

This paper investigates the interplay between therapeutic environments and objects examining the relationship between everyday things and their significance as tools of the unconscious. This paper departs from a dialogue between Winter and Parker over the last four years. Using photographs of Parker’s studio in a spatial study and noting her anecdotes of the objects and elements her clients have used in the past, Winter attempts to make sense of their impact through a Jungian perspective. He asks ‘How are the ‘transitional objects’ and ‘domestic elements’ of Studio 34 affording client’s transformational power in their healing journey?

Three of these elements and objects are outlined in this paper and pushed through a lens of Carl Jung’s observations from a chapter called ‘The Work’ in his 1963 autobiography ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections’. Using Jung’s work on the unconscious alongside his ‘sand-play’ techniques, this study delves into the transformative capacity of spaces for healing and psychological metamorphosis. These spaces, as physical, symbolic, and emotional vessels, act as active agents in the journey toward self-discovery and emotional balance. Notable supporting references include Winnacott’s 1971 ‘transitional phenomena’ and Bion’s 1962 ‘psychic containment’.

Studio 34 offers a unique therapeutic space that balances domestic and interactive elements, allowing clients to experience control, ownership, and privacy when in session. Studies of domestic elements like windows, floors, radiators and furniture as well as transitional objects such as toys, paint and postcards further illustrate how these phenomena can afford a client’s healing journey beyond their usual limits. By identifying spatial elements that foster safety and openness, one unlocks how the therapy room itself becomes a transformative tool for confronting and integrating complex emotions. Further investigations signpost to a ‘Transitional object affordance rubric’, ‘Frankenstein Hybrid’ designed objects and a ‘Lifesize Sand-tray’ as participatory immersive exhibition installation.