[Passage into paternity: a clinical approach]

In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood within a transient Society, Greece, that was framed in the course of a clinical research. The main goal of this study was to describe the social psychological dynamics and long term dimension of the phenomenon through analysis of interviews with young men becoming fathers for the first time in their lives. The theoretical framework and the social psychological context of the research are presented, together with the analyses of two accounts by fathers interviewed each three times, before and after their child's birth. This clinical material serves as an illustration of the psychodynamic processes of going into fatherhood and points to two dimensions: one is intrapersonal (essentially marked by identifications to parental images) and the other interpersonal (essentially marked by the relationships with the partner). Analysis of the subjects' affects and representations shows that resolution of conscient and unconscious conflicts which takes place during the going into fatherhood are dependent on the process of disengagement from the family of origin and on the ability of both partners to construct a conjugal space. Men (and fathers-to-be) when faced with the situation may either confine themselves to culturally established schemes or/and their own history, or find a new meaning to their personal and relational life.