So I have been reading a good number of articles and books about psychoanalysis and the father-child / mother-daughter complex, but I couldn't find something consistent enough on the psychoanalysis of the father or the mother in relation to their child's growth/ maturation. Can anybody help me with this please?
Thank you, Michael Uebel. I think that the articles you recommended are quite useful. However, I am still surprised by the scarcity of research done on the perspective of the mother/father during the child's growth and identity formation. I am a literary researcher, but at this moment I wish I were a psychology student.
Have a look at the UK branch of psychoanalysis called Object Relations. The emphasis there is on the relationship between baby and Mother. Melanie Klein first and then look at Winnicot with his concept of “holding” or containment, and Margaret Mahler with her theory of “individuation-separation”. They were part of the researchers actually studying baby-parent interactions, named “the baby watchers”. Bowlby with his attachment theory was part of this group, working at the Tavistock clinic in London.
This is theory based on observations and research and together forms a good image of how babies depend on their parents and how the baby develops an inner psychic life and how it handles the outside world.
Dear Ines,
regarding the relationship parent-child, reading classical pa theory, Freudian theory, will not be helpful. Freud postulated that growth came from innate, genetic, drives, primitive life forces, much like a machine.
Melanie Klein dared to disagree with him (eventually) and saw that babies were focussed on the “other” and developed thru relating to the “other”, the Mother primarily. Hence “object relations”. That can be summarized by the statement that the baby wants to love, and be loved. All within the baby-parent dyad, where the dyad is then ptotected and “contained” by the Father, making a triad. See this in symbolic terms.
Margaret Mahler describes phases of development where first the baby is fused with the Mother in a symbiotic relationship and then slowly becomes its own person thru “individuation-separation” processes. She describes these phases as observable around the age of 2-3 yrs old. In puberty this process happens again, with all the drama attached to young teenagers.
Bowlby describes patterns of attachment, which are repeated thru the whole of one’s life.
These last two may be of the most interest to you because Klein’s language (early 20th century) is still rather cryptic, like Freud’s, and she did not dare to disagree with him too openly.
Look at wikipedia first, and then the original articles.
Success!
Lilian Hupkens Thank you for your answer. That is exactly what I needed to know. As you said, reading Freud and classical theory at this level of research avers to be time-consuming. It is why I need new studies and references with decipherable language.
https://www.therapyroute.com/article/the-scientific-standing-of-psychoanalysis-by-m-solms Dear Ines, This article may be helpful to your thesis. It puts psychoanalysis in a very modern and recent framework of science. Also relates to attachment theory and object relations theory. Success!
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