Abstract

Becoming a university student coincides with the end of adolescent growth, when young people complete their transition from childhood to adulthood by resolving the process of second separation-individuation. The uniqueness of this period of life is in the formation of an adult personality in which a special role is played by the success of coping and mastering the experiences of separation. Accordingly, separation experiences can encourage the emergence of symbiotic-addictive needs as well as fears that occur and are very harmful in this period. The inability to cope with and master these experiences can lead to a stagnation in the growth of young people in their upbringing or individuation. Through the presentation of a case, we provide insight into how the experience of separation, i.e. the severance of an emotional connection, stimulated regressive tendencies and encouraged the emergence of gambling addiction. Accordingly, the process in which retrieving the object in the “transitional space” of the psychotherapy session led to the restoration of disturbed narcissistic balance. As a result of this, the possibility of coping and mastering early experiences of loss that stood in the way of realization of developmental tasks is defined by the second separation individuation process.