[Early disturbances in parent-infant interactions and the construction of psychic life. The young child and his psychotic mother].

Abstract

From their clinical experience with infants of psychotic mothers who present serious parental disorders, the authors wonder about the effects of early exposure of the child to maternal psychosis. The dynamic of development, within the frame of a major disturbance of mother-infant interactions is illustrated by the therapeutic follow-through treatment of a child and his family, from birth to the age of eight. This enables to formulate several hypotheses that aim to establish connections between interactive disfunctioning and characteristics of psychic life and the child's organisation mode on short and longer term.