The Development of Symbolization

In this paper I want to concentrate mainly on the early stages of development of symbolization and how this interrelates with the early stages of development of mental representations and of language. These very early stages might more precisely be called pre-symbolic, pre-representational and pre-linguistic; but whatever we choose to call them, I want to stress the continuity of earlier and later phases and hence the importance of very early developments for the eventual outcome in later stages. We are becoming increasingly aware that difficulties at these early stages may have repercussions throughout later development, as I will attempt to illustrate with case examples.

Two areas of psychopathology which are receiving a good deal of attention at present are psychosomatic illness and certain disturbances of language and thought. In both these areas psychoanalysts point to disturbance of the symbolic function as an aetiological factor. But I believe there is a need to pinpoint more precisely what has gone wrong in different forms of these disturbances. I will indicate some of the questions I think we need to ask, though I cannot offer many answers. It is first necessary to clarify what we mean by symbolism and what we think influences its development. I