The case of Sophie

The analysis of a girl from ages 3 to 5 years old offers a clinical illustration of an alternative theory of change. In this theory the process of change is organized around nodal points of exchange between patient and analyst, designated as “now moments” and “moments of meeting.” In the case presented, these moments were preceded by an intensification of affect and were accompanied by a sense of openness and ambiguity. As often as not they were nonverbal and sometimes did not even involve symbolic representation. The process resulted in a progressively expanded repertoire of ways of being together and ways of doing things together. In a parallel and mutually influencing track, the child was telling me a story that gave meaning to her world, and increased the coherence of her sense of self. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Prefiguring and Refiguring Triangular Interpersonal Relationships: Commentary on Paper by Elisabeth Fivaz-Depeursinge,Chloé Lavanchy-Scaiola,and Nicolas Favez

The current paper involves a discussion of “The Young Infant's Triangular Communication in the Family: Access to Threesome Intersubjectivity?” Conceptual considerations and case illustrations. The work of the Lausanne Group is reviewed with special reference to its relevance to psychoanalytic theory and practice. The ingenuity of the design of the play paradigm is cited, with its illumination of the role of the body and interactive events in the construction of inner experience. Challenges to psychoanalytic thinking are discussed with special reference to the Oedipus complex and its precursors. A major difference involves the Lausanne group's position that triangles are not inherently problematic. The author also addresses the question of intersubjectivity as a motivational system, taking issue with the group's position that it is.