The Containment Vessel

The containment vessel is our ability to hold others — and essentially ourselves — so that we have the resources for what is outside us as well.

The vessel is made of three main components: its depth; the sharpness of the transition from full to empty; and the elasticity of its base.

This vessel forms based on several key factors: The degree to which your primary attachment figures contained you in infancy and childhood — this relates mostly to the vessel's depth. How much your parent contained themselves — this relates to how well you yourself will identify the transition from full to emptying. When there's no identification, the transition feels sudden, and then there can be shutting down, disconnection from the relationship, or in many cases — an outburst. Personal work and self-development relates to the elasticity of the vessel's base.

The vessel's fullness and the rate of its emptying — these are connected to the here and now. Tiredness? Hunger? Stress and mental overload? Lack of personal space? Relationships that aren't nourishing? A wound from the past being triggered?

In therapeutic work, we can deepen the vessel — mainly by providing care to the wounded parts from childhood. We can make the base more flexible. We'll learn to track the emptying process, to find ways to refill the vessel before reaching the painful bottom. We'll offer love, compassion, and self-acceptance even in a painful encounter with the vessel's bottom.

When your vessel is full, when it is maintained and there is attention to what you need — the inner nourishment allows you to soar beyond the horizon.