ABSTRACT

In Winnicott’s works, the reference to the paternal function is both essential and implicit. In fact the father is present all the time, on the side-lines. He is ever-present, in numerous clinical annotations, by small phrases here and there. Winnicott concentrated particularly on the mother–child relationship, since he felt that the foundation of what he called “healthy” lay there. Winnicott insists on the fact that it is much easier for children to have both their parents: One parent can be felt to remain loving while the other is being hated, and this in itself has a stabilizing influence. Winnicott emphasizes the importance of the relationship between the parents, a relationship that is obviously going to lend a certain tone to what he calls “environment”. He writes that the father “helps the mother to feel happy in her body and happy in her mind”.