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Since Freud, the study of transference has been one of the most important sources of knowledge regarding the child's psychological processes. As the interpretation is the main expression of the analyst, the patient's relation to it becomes the preponderant field in that study. Moreover, the degree in which the interpretation can be accepted and assimilated depends on this relation. The analysis of the patient's relation to the interpretation hence acquires a threefold interest: it is a study of infancy, it is a working-through of the transference, and it is an indispensable therapeutical (technical) requisite. It is the first aspect—the study of some infantile processes—that mainly concerns us today; the other two aspects are, however, closely bound up with the first.
After Freud (1), (2) several analysts have devoted special attention to this subject, W. Reich (10), K. Horney (4), and M. Klein (7) among others. In the Argentine, L. Alvarez de Toledo (11), A. Gonzalez (3), G. T. de Racker (8), and others have dealt with different aspects of this wide topic. The present paper will refer, on the one hand, to infantile situations already known, exemplifying them through the patient's relations to the interpretation. In this respect, its aim is to contribute towards a closer contact between our theoretical knowledge and analytic practice. On the other hand, we shall meet with some rather obscure points and shall attempt to contribute to their clarification. Furthermore, through the material to be presented, I shall try to confirm the succession of certain situations of pain, anxiety, and defence, and their dynamic interrelation, as set forth in my paper on 'Stratification' (9).
The return of the child's relation to the breast in the patient's attitude towards the analyst's interpretative capacity and activity has been pointed out by M. Klein, especially in her latest book (7). But the relations to the breast, as described by her in former writings (5), (6), ma