ABSTRACT
In a persuading and inspiring manner Peter Fonagy´s paper shows how psychoanalytic positions and perspectives can be innovatively defined and redeveloped. His specifications take on Eric Kandel´s demand to develop a shared framework for psychoanalysis and neurosciences in order to be able to investigate the effects of early mother–child interaction and the sequelae of different attachment representations with new methodologies, such as the development of mentalization processes. The parent–infant bond, so central to the human condition, may also determine the risks of developing mood and anxiety disorders, and the potential for resiliency and protection against the development of psychopathology later in life, not to mention the far-reaching aspects of human attachment across individual behaviours and between cultures. Child psychiatrists ought to ask themselves how neuroscientific results can represent the inner world of their patients, which methods can better detect the experiences, feelings, and self-concepts, and how early attachment experiences can effect the cognitive and emotional development.
