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In this paper, I will explore Winnicott's approach to fantasy, imagination and the therapeutic engagement of fantasy-images. Winnicott's case accounts, with both children and adults, bear testimony to his unique understanding of the processes of fantasy, as evidenced by his detailed descriptions of the emergence and unfolding of fantasy-images in the context of the dialogical exchange between analyst and patient. In his theoretical papers on transitional objects, potential space, and the role of fantasy in psychic development, a philosophy of the imagination implicitly emerges for Winnicott that is heedful of Freud's caution in relation to the productions of fantasy, yet at the same time places great value on the phenomenological integrity of fantasy-images, thus calling into question primary psychoanalytic assumptions about the role of fantasy and imagination in psychological life.
The paper is divided into two parts. In Part One, I will examine the key theoretical ideas that give ground to an emerging theory of fantasy and image in Winnicott's work. In Part Two, I will examine a therapeutic consultation with a very young child, the Piggle, in which we explore the particularities of Winnicott's approach to engaging images in the context of an ongoing treatment. By elucidating the links between his theoretical insights into the relationship between fantasy, imagination and reality and his actual work with fantasy-images in the course of treatment, the aim of this paper is to show the distinct contribution Winnicott makes toward a psychoanalytic theory of the image.
Winnicott does not assume that all fantasy productions have equal value, and thus does not follow the tendency of some Jungians to uncritically take for