Befores and Afters of the Womb: Reply to Commentaries by Jeanne Wolff Bernstein and Dodi Goldman

Abstract

This reply engages with Wolff Bernstein's and Goldman's rich discussions of Farhi's work. Wolff Bernstein's exploration of the relationship between Winnicott and Susan as a perversion of the phylogenetic shield operative in primal repression furthers our understanding of Milner's treatment of her patient. Following Wolff Bernstein's thoughts of the problems caused by Winnicott's mishandlings of Susan, I suggest that we might consider the referral process itself as an analogue to pre-natal life, the conscious and unconscious significations of which can have an important impact on the qualities of relational bonds to be built with the treating analyst. Goldman's commentary deepens our insight into Milner as a person and as an analyst. At the same time, it also raises an important question about how early in biological life it is logical to assume the possibility of psychic material's registration, which Goldman sees as equivalent to considerations of psychic organization. Seeing the two as temporally distinct, I draw from critical analyses of Laplanche's theory to discuss how experience can be registered as yet-misaligned bits that await a later developmental time before it can become invested with meaning and become psychically organized.