In his contribution to this panel, G.C. Soavi refers to patients who spend a considerable part of their sessions complaining about themselves, the people they are associated with, and their everyday lives. He interprets such manifestations of dissatisfaction as signs that a transformative maternal function was lacking in early infancy. The child's mother had trouble in taking pleasure in its clumsy and uncertain behaviour. Consequently some aspects of the patient's experience have remained obscure and unexpressive.

Sometimes the complaint is a silent one, as if the patient didn't even have the right to make his deep dissatisfation and unhappiness known. In such cases it can be assumed that the mother found it an annoying and embarrassing burden to have to attend to the child's needs. Having felt