ABSTRACT
Before elaborating further on the nature of holding processes in psy choanalysis, I would like to examine the theoretical evolution of the holding metaphor. Until recently, holding was linked inextricably to an idealized maternal metaphor in which the analyst/mother was viewed as all-knowing and all-giving. That metaphor generated a powerful but mixed response. Much of its appeal was associated with the hope that appeared to lie in the maternal analyst's potential repar ative powers. If the analyst can symbolically become the mother, the possibility of reworking early trauma is enormously increased; what cannot be remembered can be reexperienced and then repaired; the patient can, in fact, be a baby again, but with a better, more responsive mother (see also Slochower, 1996a).
