Donald Winnicott - The Anti-social Tendency

The Anti-social Tendency

Connected to the concept of holding is 'pre-delinquent behaviour, which Winnicott calls "the anti-social tendency". He says of this: is not a diagnosis. It...may be found in a normal individual, or in one that is neurotic or psychotic'. Instead, Winnicott saw it as a cry for help, as a search for holding not previously found within the family itself. 'Antisocial activity for Winnicott is an expression of the delinquent child's sense of loss, a rupture of an earlier integration the child carried within him'. In response, the 'child whose home fails to give a feeling of security looks outside his home for the four walls...looking to society instead of to his own family or school to provide the stability he needs'.