On Feeling and Being Felt with

Abstract

The development of feelings in early childhood is traced, with special emphasis on the mother's role during the toddler phase when she facilitates her child's transition from sensorimotoric discharge to the mental experience, ownership, and use of modulated affects. Many child analytic patients use defenses to ward off feelings, many have not even reached the developmental level of experiencing feelings. How this difficulty manifests itself, the reasons for the developmental lag, and the analytic means of helping such patients are discussed and illustrated.