Mother-Infant Attachment and Psychoanalysis: The Eyes of ShameWinner of the 2004 Gradiva Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. The issue of shame has become a central topic for many writers and therapists in recent years, but it is debatable how much real understanding of this powerful and pervasive emotion we have achieved. Mother-Infant Attachment and Psychoanalysis argues that shame can develop during the first six months of life through an unreflected look in the mother's eyes, and that this shame is then internalised by the infant and reverberates through its later life. The author further expands on this concept of the look through a powerful and extensive study of the concept of the Evil Eye, an enduring universal belief that eyes have the power to inflict injury. Finally, she presents ways of healing shame within a clinical setting, and provides a fascinating analysis of the role of eye-contact in the therapeutic encounter. |
From inside the book
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... emotion we have achieved . Mother - Infant Attachment and Psychoanalysis argues that shame can develop during the first ... emotional development will profit greatly from the theoretical and clinical analysis offered in this book . Mary ...
... emotional experiences for all humankind , shame was rarely dis- cussed , which made this subject a blind spot in ... emotion , the invisible regulator of our entire affective life ( Nathanson , 1996 ) . Its prevalence in the therapeutic ...
... emotional maturity ; in some cases a mother's disturbance with a particular child outweighs her capacities for love ... emotionally charged , internalized form of mother in a complex psychic situation that takes on the collective ...
... emotion which produces hiding due to a fear of exposure has until relatively recently hidden itself from ... emotions , mainly guilt , whereas shame as an independ- ent affect was overlooked and underestimated . A few theorists who ...
... emotions , " inclusive of embarrassment , humiliation , shyness , or modesty , as well as the put - down feelings of disgrace , degradation , and dishonor . As he puts it : Shame in its typical features is complex and variable , a range ...
Contents
1 | |
7 | |
2 Mothers eyes | 34 |
3 Mothers eyes as false mirrors | 61 |
4 The Evil Eye and the Great Mother | 99 |
5 The eyes of the Terrible Mother | 120 |
6 The look | 146 |
7 The eyes of love | 188 |
Clinical implications for the field of depth psychology | 216 |
Bibliography | 225 |
Index | 235 |