Psicólogo – Nivaldo Júnior (CRP 09/016675)

For Winnicott (1963), there is no complete independence, and maturity also refers to socialization. In this sense, the individual is always in relation to their environment, creating an interdependent relationship in such a way that the health of the individual also refers to the health of society.

For him, there are three types of dependence:

Absolute Dependence:

The baby depends on the physical provision in the early stages of emotional development. The environment makes this possible by enabling the individual to realize their potential. However, the environment doesn’t create the child.

Primary Maternal Preoccupation:

It happens in the last weeks of the pregnancy and in the first weeks after the birth of the baby. The mother provides “holding” to her baby and needs to identify herself with them. The mother also fails because of her own immaturity and anxieties. This failure gives the baby anger and aggressiveness that allows them to experience love.

Relative Dependence:

It happens between six months and two years old of the infant. It consists of gradual failure in adaptation and the beginning of the intellectual understanding of reality. The child is more aware of their interdependence, and anxiety appears when the mother is absent. The child learns to deal with the loss of objects and to find substitutes.

The absence of the mother creates the idea that she is necessary, and gradually the child begins to put themselves in the mother’s shoes. The social group creates opportunities for the infant to cooperate, and the child can create the feelings of grief, hatred, disillusionment, fear, and impotence. The child understands an inner and outer reality and gains control of external events.

Towards Independence:

The individual begins to face the world with more complexities and is able to identify themselves with society, just because society is a sample of the self’s personal world. The individual embraces the new, exploring different social circles.

Source: The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: studies in the theory of emotional development. Chapter 7: From Dependence Toward Independence in the Development of the Individual (1963)