Concept
Ocnophilia
Michael Balint's name (1959), from the Greek for hesitating or shrinking, for an attitude in which a person feels secure only while clinging to firm objects and experiences the empty spaces between them as dangerous. The ocnophil overvalues closeness and contact with the object; Balint set the attitude against philobatism and traced both to the loss of the harmonious mix-up of primary love.
Read more- Introduced by
- Michael Balint
- Key works
- 1
- Related
- Philobatism
introduced by
- Michael Balint 1959 In Thrills and Regressions (1959) Balint coins the ocnophil for the person who must cling to objects to feel safe.
opposes
- Philobatism 1959 Balint builds the two as a contrasting pair: the ocnophil holds on to objects and fears the spaces between them, the philobat trusts the spaces and mistrusts the objects. He treats both as answers to the discovery that objects are separate.