ABSTRACT
The Confusion of Tongues idea was a paradigm shift for psychoanalysis in several important ways. His new theoretical paradigm was intended to help psychoanalysis understand that it could no longer remain a binary perspective, but it was necessary for the theory to evolve in order to treat traumas and borderline personality disorders. He outlines in empathic terms the child’s inter struggle as well as the interpersonal encounter with family and adult authority to maintain a sense of self-cohesion in the face of sexual seduction. Ferenczi introduced understanding of the role the mother played in a family with the interaction with the child. Ferenczi’s student, Michael Balint, expanded the Confusion of Tongues theory with focus on the fundamental need of a child for the unconditional love of the mother, which he called primary object love. Balint’s ideas contributed to the development of the object relations perspective.
