ABSTRACT
Chapters 16, “Naming the nameless: on anxiety in babies – I: Freud”, and 17, “Naming the nameless: on anxiety in babies – II: After Freud”, continue the author’s investigation of the infant’s mind, in particular how we are to understand panic in babies. Chapter 16 focuses on Sigmund Freud’s theories. The author brings out Freud’s profound interest in the infant’s mind and how his speculations formed the basis of many theoretical concepts. He also brings out that Freud, in the beginning of his career, formed assumptions about the affective content in mother–infant interactions, including the infant’s interpretations of it. During his later writings, these ideas escaped from his immediate focus. The author discusses the reasons for this turn and its consequences; especially, it has led to the common view that “classical psychoanalysis” is irrelevant for understanding infant panic – a view that the author disagrees with.
