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"What do his lips want from me?" Infantile sexuality and enigmatic messages in psychoanalytic parent-infant

Björn Salomonsson1

  • 1Psychoanalyst (IPA), Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis
|March 28, 2025
PubMed

Insights

This study explores Freud's concept of infantile sexuality in parent-infant psychotherapy (PIP). It suggests that unconscious micro-expressions, like kiss-like motions, may represent enigmatic messages for infants.

Area of Science:

  • Psychoanalysis
  • Infant Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Freud's theory of infantile sexuality posits erotic pleasure in early development, linking the sexual drive to survival instincts.
  • Freud's observations on infantile sexuality in newborns and its development until age three were based on limited evidence.
  • Laplanche proposed "enigmatic messages" in dyadic interactions, unconscious to adults and incomprehensible to infants, to explain early development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether infants perceive specific communicative expressions as enigmatic messages.
  • To apply psychoanalytic concepts to parent-infant psychotherapy (PIP) clinical material.
  • To examine the role of unconscious communication in early parent-infant interactions.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a video-recorded parent-infant psychotherapy (PIP) session for analysis.
  • Employed an observational and interpretative method involving layered analysis.
  • Focused on micro-events during an interaction between an analyst and a gaze-avoidant infant.

Main Results:

  • The analyst's conscious efforts (greeting, smiling) were observed.
  • The analyst's unconscious, kiss-like lip motions were identified and interpreted.
  • These micro-events were retroactively interpreted as potentially signifying infantile sexuality.

Conclusions:

  • The study discusses the potential correspondence of observed micro-events to Laplanche's concept of enigmatic messages.
  • It highlights the complexity of unconscious communication in early parent-infant relationships.
  • Suggests that seemingly simple interactions may carry profound, unconscious meanings for infants.

Keywords:
Infantile sexualityenigmatic messagespsychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy

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