The relation of mother-child has been at the centre of psycho-analytic interest right from the beginning. Its importance became even greater when, it was found necessary to go regularly back into the pre-oedipal times.
As this is the earliest object relation the beginnings of which reach into the nebulous times where the frontiers of ego and external world merge into each other, it is of paramount importance both theoretically and practically. Thus it is quite understandable that each of us has tried his mettle on the mother-child relation. My contribution to this problem is mainly an attempt at a résumé, and I can only claim originality for the point of view from which the summing up was carried out.
