The mother’s mental representation of her infant

Abstract

The mother’s intrapsychic mental representation of her infant begins before pregnancy and is modified during pregnancy and thereafter. Parents have conscious expectations and unconscious fantasies about their infant, which are all too often not consistent with reality. Early intervention in infant–parent disturbances is important for repair of the relationship and prevention of later pathogenic development. A clinical example of a mother’s unconscious ambivalent mental representations of her infant is presented.

Key words:

• representation
• infant
• affect
• development

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Harold P. Blum

Author

Harold P. Blum, MD, is a training and supervising psychoanalyst at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Education, affiliated to the New York University School of Medicine. He is president of the Psychoanalytic Research and Development Fund, and former editor of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association.