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This paper focuses on early emotional development, both during pregnancy and in early infancy, as relevant to understanding primitive mental states encountered in clinical work. The first prism chosen in this search to understand the origins of our mind is based on clinical experience and its psychoanalytic theorization. Two main psychoanalytic theoretical approaches are relevant to understanding the psyche of the infant: the first emphasizes primary narcissism and conceptualizes the baby as immersed in a mental state of merger with the primal object; the second approach relates to the baby's psyche as a separate entity that is able to experience a raw sense of separateness from the object, right from the beginning of life. Clinical implications that stem from each theoretical approach are discussed. The second prism chosen is based on psychoanalytic interpretation of fetus and infant observations and on developmental studies. These observations and studies deepen our understanding of the coming into being of thinking processes, emotions and relational patterns during the whole lifespan, in general, and in the therapeutic situation, in particular. The author also discusses the limitations inherent in building retroactive conclusions, about the origins of emotional development that are drawn from within the clinical situation.