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Related to the personal distance which non-contact animals maintain between themselves, there would appear to be, on the psychological plane, what Silberman calls “mental transitional spheres.” Living systems, man very much included, operate as though surrounded by transitional zones, both physical and psychological, that appear to control and modulate the constant flow of stimuli and the exchange of communication between “me” and “not-me.”
Silberman suggests that the mental “spheres” so often spoken of in psychoanalytical metapsychology should not be viewed as rigid encapsulating structures, but as interconnecting elastic links, facilitating the constant adjustments in mental operations and compartmentalizations that take place throughout life. Persons who are free of disabling conflicts function, for example, as though the channels of communication (between people and within mental “systems”) are relatively open. Psychiatric disorders of most any type, on the other hand, are accompanied by what would appear to be a narrowing or closing off of many of these channels.
The appropriate ordering and integration of external and internal stimuli is a preparatory action, in Silberman's view, essential to proper ego development. This action appears to take place in the transitional spheres postulated by the author. Under ideal circumstances a balance or homeostasis takes place, aided by the functions of these spheres. Included in those functions are scanning, censoring, inhibiting, and other mechanisms related to the moment to moment choices made by each individual about what he wishes to take in from the world around him — and what he wishes to avoid.