« Back to Volume 20 (2011), Issue 2
Pojdi na slovensko stran članka / Go to the article page in Slovene
The earliest relationship between an infant and a mother through the prism of the psychoanalytic theory
Danaja Lorenčič
Full text (pdf) | Views: 44 | Written in Slovene. | Published: August 15, 2011
Abstract: The article presents the mother-infant dyad in the oral or cannibal phase which in Freudian psychoanalysis denotes the first psychosexual development stage. In the first part of the article author describes the child's development in the earliest stage, from primary narcissism, the primal state where id, ego and external world are not yet differentiated, to object relations wherein an infant realizes that the existence of object is necessary for satisfaction of needs. The second part of the article discusses the role of the mother who appears as the omnipotent Other to the infant and at the same time acts as an infant's "support ego". The third part reviews results of the oral stage that are reflected in the mother- infant relations.
Keywords: oral stage, object relations, psychoanalytic theories
