Watching me, watching you, watching them- the gestation and birth of a mother-infant observation seminar leader

Abstract

ABSTRACT Leading mother-infant observation seminars is often imbued with anxiety and uncertainty. While there is a significant body of literature, notably by Bick (1964), Harris & Bick (2011), Magagna (1997), Saltzberger-Wittenberg (1997) and Miller et al. (1989) , which examine the endeavour and reflect on it, interested practitioners have seldom been formally trained; this was the author’s experience. The article examines the parallels between the growth and development of an effective seminar leader and the early growth and development of the human infant’s parents. There is a parallel in the lack of formal preparation and the considerable anxiety evoked. The article reflects on the seminar leader's role in containing the seminar group and individual observers as each learns from the experience of grappling with primitive, unconscious feelings, including the transference to the observer and her countertransference. Bion’s (1963) concept of container-contained is apposite here as are the notions of so-called ‘maternal’ and ‘paternal’ functions and the position of the psychoanalytic third.