Maternal space, a hermeneutic phenomenological reading of shifts in the experience of holding and being held in mind in mothers and infants in the first nine months

Abstract

The experiences of four mothers and their infants were tracked developmentally across four transition points in the first nine months to uncover shifts in the phenomenological experience of holding and being held in mind over this period of rapid growth and change. A phenomenological interview was conducted and a 20-minute observation of each participant dyad videotaped at each meeting, which were later transcribed and analyzed using a hermeneutic phenomenological method. Core themes and dimensions of experience specific to each transition were uncovered, along with a developmental conceptualization of the phenomenon of holding and being held in mind that linked infantile experience to maternal experience on the internal plane. Points of convergence in the developmental progression of mother and infant across the four transitions were found in three key areas: the internal experience of 'maternal space', defined as the mother's and infant's conjoined experience of internal or psychic space, including its emotional shape and its dynamic nature; 'self-body boundaries', which includes the sense of self definition and the felt nature of the boundary between self and other; and the experience of 'structure', which pertains here to the grounding link with externality in the face of change. Maternal holding is portrayed as a cyclical process, involving intermittent re-looping through developmental transitions alongside one's infant, each with its own conflictual core. The maternal experience of holding an infant in mind was seen to ignite a potent re-encounter with existential beginnings, inviting an opportunity for psychological growth, with maternal re-visiting re-evoking primitive tensions specific to each transition as an outcome of being continuously and intimately engaged with an infant's state of mind. In delineating the evocative impact of the infant's mental and emotional state on the maternal caregiver, the findings bridge an identified gap in the developmental literature on mutual influence in the earliest holding relationship. Developmental portraits of each relationship, based on selected excerpts from the women's narratives and the taped observations, are presented both to contextualize the phenomenological analysis and give voice to the experience as 'lived.' The social implications of the study and its relevance and contribution to current developmental theory and clinical practice are discussed.