ABSTRACT
The mother's cathexis of the newborn is accompanied by a narcissistic retreat that extends to maternalising the environment. The child's own drive source is located inside the mothering system and within the primary identification. The child's id becomes the mother's ego - only in part - because some of the erotic libido of the woman who refuses to become a mother is 'outside the perimeters', although it quickly begins to make unexpected appearances. But if this mother becomes a woman again, her child's id will return to being an id that has to be silenced and neutralised. From a utopian perspective, then, the mother having assumed her protective-shield role temporarily decathects her child as soon as desire transforms her into a woman. From the modern-day perspective, the child's mental productions - initially censored - require in turn the conditions of elaboration. The fact that this encounter occurs is already laden with a future elaboration in resonance with primal fantasies.
