The transitional object plays an important role in the separation from the mother. The sensations in the skin, a boundary between 'me' and 'not-me' are other factors in the separationprocess from the environment and, like the transitional object, are important for the building of the ego.
Some aspects of the transitional object are mentioned to understand the use and meaning of inanimate objects in the mother-child relationship and the development of the ego. Because of early experiences in the first year of life, the level of separationanxiety can raise too high for the child. In that case the child can be forced to hold on to his transitional object.
This can be detrimental for the development of the contact with other people, like in the pathological cases of the fetish, the autistic object and the borderline child.