GOING INTO FATHERHOOD - A CLINICAL APPROA CH

In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon o f going into fatherhood within a transient Society, Greece, that was f ramed in the course of a clinical research. The main goal of this stud y was to describe the social psychological dynamics and long term dime nsion of the phenomenon through analysis of interviews with young men becoming fathers for the first time in their lives. The theoretical fr amework and the social psychological context of the research are prese nted, together with the analyses of two accounts by fathers interviewe d each three times, before and after their child's birth. This clinica l material serves as an illustration of the psychodynamic processes of going into fatherhood and points to two dimensions : one is intrapers onal (essentially marked by identifications to parental images) and th e other interpersonal (essentially marked by the relationships with th e partner). Analysis of the subjects' affects and representations show s that resolution of conscient and unconscious conflicts which takes p lace during the going into fatherhood are dependant on the process of disengagement from the family of origin and on the ability of both par tners to construct a conjugal space. Men (and fathers-to-be) when face d with the situation may either confine themselves to culturally estab lished schemes or\and their own history, or find a new meaning to thei r personal and relational life.