THE JUNCTIM IN CHILD ANALYSIS - A CASE-ST UDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

This paper aims to answer a complex question: why is it so difficult t o predict the infant's quality of attachment to its mother on the basi s of maternal behaviours alone? The findings indicate that the attachm ent of a child to its mother represents the regaining of an intersubje ctive unity which had existed already in an earlier phase of developme nt. The strength of such a unity, the mother's capacity to identify th e mental state of her child, may be predictive of the quality of attac hment of the infant. The paper discusses the implication of this model for the treatment of children whose attachment to their objects is di sturbed.