Transformations of early infantile experiences: A 6‐month‐old in psychoanalysis

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to study the theoretical and technical tools for psychoanalysis adapted to an infantile analysand's requirements. The author presents the case of a 6‐month‐old boy with his mother in psychoanalytical sessions four times a week; the analysis was terminated after six weeks. After the fi rst two sessions the disturbances between the infant and the mother disappeared from everyday life but continued with increasing intensity as an emotional storm in the sessions during three weeks up to a 12‐day break. During and after the break everyday life continued without disturbances. After the break the emotional storm continued in the sessions but abated and was replaced by playing. The infant's creation of a fort‐da game with his pacifi er indicated a transformation of the mental functioning. The analysis could then be terminated. The study of the process indicates good reasons to adapt psychoanalytical concepts to the prerequisite of the infantile personality and to use the concepts of unconscious, infantile repression, substitute formation, return of the infantile repressed, infantile transference, splitting, xKy, reverie and containment as some of the theoretical tools for understanding the infantile personality in a clinical psychoanalytical setting.