Winnicott & the pat(t)ernal element: Joona Taipale

Joona Taipale is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences & Philosophy, University of Jyvaskyla.

Joona's publications and presentations are proving of great interest to psychoananlytic practitioners and those with an interest in psychoanalytic ideas and their significance in wider societal contexts.

In March this year, Joona Taipale presented a paper for Squiggle which he originally called Winnicott and the environment-father but which he then re-named Winnicott and the pat(t)ernal element.

This change of title proved both intriguing and apposite. He brought a philosophical perspective to Winnicott's ideas on the role of the Father which was simultaneously theoretical and instantly recognisable as clinically important. There was an immediate expression of interest in providing a forum to re-visit and explore his formulations.

Given that 'going on being ' forms such a central part of Winnicott's understanding of the role of both therapist and mother, the paternal element or pattern of being ('pattern' and 'paternal' both originating from 'pater') offered itself as a rich source of continuing exploration.

This event offers an opportunity for those who have already heard his paper to continue the discussion, and for those who have not, an opportunity to join the conversation.

It will be convened by Joona in conjunction with Tessa Dalley (Chair, Squiggle) and Mike Tait & Craig Fees (Trustees, Squiggle).

A recording and transcript of Joona's original presentation and the respondents' contributions are available to Squiggle members in the Members section of the website.

Traversing less-examined threads in Winnicott’s work, and focusing on the temporal dimensions of experience, the paper introduces and examines the concept of a patterning function. The origins of this function are traced back to the rhythmic cycle of need and satisfaction, which Winnicott discusses in terms of “object-creation” and “object-destruction”, and which introduces the child with future-directedness and hence a nascent sense of going-on-being. As will be shown, the patterning function may only be associated with external objects après-coup, and the range of such objects is not teleologically set from the start. The consequence of the claim that the patterning function is already found in the infant’s emergent sense of going-on-being, which enables their possible father-identifications, is that the patterning function cannot be claimed to be building on the latter. Using Winnicott’s work, I will thus challenge the assumption that the child’s sense of unity and order are ultimately rooted in their identification with concrete fathers or father-figures. This reinterpretation is expected to enable a more efficient application of Winnicott’s insights to the great variety of parenting and family structures and genders and people that we encounter in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy today. Unveiling hitherto hidden potentials in Winnicottian thinking, I will further show how the sense of pattern gradually expands into an overall “frame” or “setting” of life which the individual must first “test” and “destroy” before internalizing it as their “personal pattern”.