Blind mothers of suffering babies

Abstract

In this paper, the author presents case material related to a patient who asked for psychotherapy as she was having difficulty managing her problems within the family. This clinical vignette reveals how some mothers have difficulties being, as Winnicott said, “ordinary devoted mothers.” These mothers are “psychologically blind,” in that they not able to psychologically “see” or feel the pain of their babies or children. The author discusses the case material using Winnicott and Bion’s essential concepts of how the patient is deprived of maternal functioning.

Key words:

• holding
• protective shield
• blindness
• separation-individuation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tevfika İkiz

Author

Tevfika İkiz, Psy. Dr., has been a professor at Istanbul Unıversity Psychology Department since 1992. She is a psychoanalyst, a member of Société Psychanalytique de Paris (SPP) and the Istanbul Psychoanalytical Association, and the Istanbul group representative of the Association Internationale Interactions de la Psychanalyse. The main focus of her studies is psychosomatics and projective techniques. She is an international editorial board member of Rorschachiana, Dialogue, Topique, and Revue Psychologie Clinique et Projective. Among her recent writings are “La psychanalyse au carrefour de l’orient et l’occident: Regard sur le sujet psychanalytique” (Topique, 2012, 121) and “La psychanalyse en Turquie” (Topique, 2010, 110).