Abstract: The threshold indicates that part of the space that delimits two territories. The threshold isn’t hard and absolute, like the front door, it identifies and separates an outside from an inside, and at the same time, it allows the meeting between them. It’s an undefined space, opening to the possibility. In psychology it is used in many contexts and to identify different psychic events, from the field of perceptual systems to the functioning of the mind and the family system. In general psychology: the absolute threshold identifies the minimum quantity of functional energy to produce a sensation. In clinical psychology: the healthy or pathological development of the individual (and of his group) depends on the threshold (high or low) of activation for neurotic, borderline or psychotic functioning, and on the tolerance thresholds to change by the family system.
