The mother as a transformational object

an analytical work with the mother-daughter dyad

Abstract

The analytical work with the mother-daughter dyad develops within a potential space. That is where the link can be seen, making the encounter easier and taking both to the mutual acknowledgement of each individuality. Quoting Bollas (1989, p.129), “Creating an intermediate area of experiences, sustaining its existence and, through a continuous intergame, installing, based on an experience, an intra-psychical equivalent of an intermediate experience.” The case I discuss in this analytical work is that of one mother with her 13-year-old adolescent daughter. Since the daughter was adopted when she was six months old, both take on a mutual path of adaptation. The disagreement appears inadolescence, when one tries to improve the adolescent’s behaviour concerning socialization. I comment on a session in which a mother’s recollection evokes a traumatic experience of the daughter’s infanthood. I intend not to elaborate on the vicissitudes of the adoption processes, as it would constitute the topic of another study, but rather to remark on the importance of dyadic work in solving a conflict. Based on Bollas’ theory, I interpret the ongoing process between them.