The Infant-Mother Relationship from the Psychoanalytic Viewpoint

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The Infant-Mother Relationship from the Psychoanalytic Viewpoint

It is a generally undisputed belief, that what occurs in a human beings first year of life, has a massive and lasting impact on the formation of the psyche, their Ego and what goes on in the conscious and unconscious. During this primary stage, the normal infant has an "extreme emotional dependence" (The Family and Individual Development: D.W. Winnicott, [1965] Ch1 Page4) on the Mother. Winnicott seemed to attribute this relationship to some sort of spiritual bond, which occurs within the mother and her child, during the pregnancy of the baby: "There is something about the mother of a baby, something which makes her particularly suited to the protection of her infant in this stage of vulnerability, and which makes her able to contribute positively to the baby's positive needs." He assigns this to a "capacity (that) does not rest on knowledge but comes from a feeling attitude which she acquires as the pregnancy advances" (The Family and Individual Development: D.W. Winnicott, [1965] Ch1 Page1).

He refers to it again in The Child The Family and The Outside World: D.W Winnicott [1957] Penguin (Ch8 Page51) as "The special ability, which they lose after a few months, to be identified with the infant that is in their special care." Even the layman will observe that the relationship is so intense, that it is bound to have an effect. Winnicott states that "The emotional development of the first year of life comprises the foundation of the mental health of the human individual." (The Family and Individual Development: D.W. Winnicott, [1965] Ch1 Page4)

At this time, the mother is, and should be preoccupied with her baby. She must for a time, temporarily sacrifice part of herself in order to meet its needs. Through...