Observing an infant

For a fictitious observation of the mother-baby relationship according to Esther Bick’s method, the author looks at the infant-adult relationship as depicted in a nativity scene from the Italian Renaissance. The non-verbal aspects of sensoriality are related to the incestuous dimensions of transference and countertransference. The author’s criticism of the baby observation technique leads her to develop the Jungian viewpoint on the mutual transformation arising from the analytic encounter, or lack thereof, with the other.