ABSTRACT
In this paper, Winnicott presents thoughts and case material on the role of the mother’s face in the development of a child. He discusses the ways in which a mother’s face functions as an emotional mirror for an infant. When a baby looks at a mother’s face, the baby sees a reflection of what the mother sees in the baby. What a baby sees in the eyes and face of the mother becomes the basis for what the baby begins to infer about him- or herself. Also, if a baby does not sense attunement in the face of the mother, that child is forced to use his mind prematurely to begin to take care of his own needs. And when a baby has to fast-forward developmentally, the natural progression that allows a little one the full freedom to create and be spontaneous in the world he inhabits may be co-opted, siphoned off, or may begin to atrophy. Winnicott ends by making the comparison to psychotherapy—that psychotherapy is a complex derivative of the mother’s face that reflects what is there to be seen in the patient.
