The Feeling of Being Freely Contained

Unbeknownst to the subject, phobic or obsessional moments bring out a small lost child, unequipped with a guide or instructions. The author suggests that the natural “handicap” of this child was not recognized by the parents ; as a result, he or she was forced to edify an adult persona without any real foundation, after a serious dissociation had taken its toll. In order to feel “freely contained”, this child needed the paradoxical experience of the self fostered, in many cases, by life in the family setting. This protective setting, compared to a mandala centering on the child, is usually animated by the confining tension of parental opposites, corresponding to two contradictory tendencies: the first, “maternal” and centripetal, and the second, “paternal” and centrifugal.